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Holiday gifts for the space fanatic

What do you get for the astrophile who has everything?

Michelle Starr
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
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1 of 12 Schönstaub

Walkin' on starshine

Stellify your space with nebulas you can spacewalk on. Switzerland-based rug maker Schönstaub is offering three 220x150cm (7.2x4.9ft) space-themed rugs, based on stellar nursery LH 95 in the Large Magellanic cloud; NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud; and the Tarantula nebula, NGC 2070. If you can't afford the $2,190 (AU$2,525 | £1,403) per rug, you can also snap up LH 95 and NGC 2070 beach towels for just $133 (AU$153 | £85) each.

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2 of 12 Cyberoptix

Apollo controls on your neck

A tie or pashmina in space wouldn't be an ideal situation, but what about a tie or pashmina for space? These accessories have been screen printed with the Command Module Main Control Panel from the Apollo Operations Handbook Block II Spacecraft, 1969, so you can familiarise yourself with cockpit controls while looking stylin', with no one ever the wiser. The ties start at $30 (AU$34 | £20) and the pashmina comes in at $44 (AU$50 | £28).

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3 of 12 Infmetry

Your room... it's full of stars

Give them the stars ... indoors. This projector lamp ($22 | AU$25 | £14) is a little fiddly to assemble (check the website for an assembly guide), but once you have it up and running, it will fill a darkened room with a stunning light projection of the cosmos.

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4 of 12 i3Lab

By the light of the emerald moon

If you've ever wanted to give someone the moon, this is your chance, with this glorious glowing wall sticker ($69 | AU$79 | £44) made using photographs of the actual moon. After at least 20 minutes in the light, it will glow in the dark for up to five hours. It's available in a bunch of different sizes, too, if the big one's a little too overwhelming.

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5 of 12 Chain of Being

Hang the solar system from your neck

Maybe you love someone a whole solar system's worth. Chain of Being's solar system jewellery is lovely, offering a range of bracelets and necklaces in both smaller and chunkier sizes to suit every taste. The planets, obviously, aren't to scale, but the distances are, and there are tiny white beads to represent each planet's moons. Prices start at $18 (AU$21.19 | £11.81) for a pair of earrings and go up to $125 (AU$147.16 | £82) for the most elaborate necklace.

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6 of 12 ThinkGeek

Ice cream from space

Just because they're in space, that's no reason for astronauts to be deprived of the wonders of ice cream -- thanks to the magic of freeze drying. Astronaut ice cream is an experience every ice cream-lover should have at least once. It's like biting into spongy, ice cream-flavoured chalk that melts into creamy deliciousness on your tongue. You can get it in three different flavours -- chocolate, neapolitan and mint choc chip -- from $4.99 (AU$5.75 | £3) a pouch.

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7 of 12 Juan Manuel Fluxà, CC BY 2.0

Space rocks!

If you're looking for something particularly rare and beautiful, look no farther than pallasite. Pallasite is a type of meteorite, made up of pieces of clear olivine crystals embedded in iron and nickel. The resulting stone, when sliced, is stunning; when you hold it up to the light, it shines through the olive-green crystal like a stained-glass window. You can buy pieces of it on its own, just as beautiful objects in their own right, or as pieces of jewellery to wear; be aware, though, as a rare stone, it is priced accordingly.

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8 of 12 Tin Toy Arcade

Tin toy invaders from outer space

The don't make 'em like the used to -- toys, that is -- and while that's a good thing in many ways, there's just something special about the old tin toys of the 50s. Tin Toy Arcade has a whole bunch of reproductions -- including some space-themed ones based on Japanese toys in the 1950s. We're particularly enamoured of the six-legged Martian, but there are a great number of treasures to be found if you poke around.

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9 of 12 Shadowplay NYC

Draped in a nebula

One can never have too many scarves. That's awesome, because every single scarf by Shadowplay NYC is gorgeous, printed with imagery from NASA: star clusters, nebulae, the lunar phases, asteroids, aurora, the planets -- something, really, for everyone. And if that hadn't spoiled you for choice, there's also tops, dresses, tights and swimsuits for women, and some pretty sexy t-shirts for the men.

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10 of 12 Hubble

Print-your-own Hubble murals

Hubble's done something really neat: made available for free hi-resolution, large print quality files for some of Hubble's most breathtaking pictures, so that you can toddle on over to your local print shop to have them made yourself. They're available in single images, or can be divided up into six separate images for a more arty statement piece. Pricing, obviously, will vary by location, so make sure you check out your available print shops first.

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11 of 12 Sean Clayton

Space in your hand

Art glass marbles are available in many different themes, but it's the space-themed ones that capture our attention the most: as you turn them in your hands, the glass magnifies new details in the spacescape therein. We've gathered together some of our favourite artists here, or you can hit up Brian Bowden's store on PBase, Zac's Lost His Marbles and Not Just Marbles.

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12 of 12 ESO

The biggest picture of the Milky Way ever

This is quite possibly the largest image of the Milky Way ever taken at 108,500x81,500 pixels -- nearly nine billion pixels, and containing some 84 million stars. If you were to print it out in full resolution, it would be massive -- several times bigger than an average room. Luckily, Gigapan offers prints in a variety of more reasonable sizes, from a postcard to a huge wall size.

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