Nothing too fancy here.... cardboard box on a table... black coat thrown over it (because, well, a coat was just the most convenient piece of black material I could find).... put the Galileo thermometer on top of this.... turn out all the room lights....set the shutter for a long exposure... trip the shutter release.... shine
a reading lamp on the background wall... afterwards, darken down any unwanted details with Photoshop...
end result.... http://www.pbase.com/image/26009909
C J