Created in blender using lots of volume clouds and cloud layers. Composite in photoshop. Blender lens flare wizard used.
Holy **** this is amazing this image should be in the forum gallery,5 stars from me.
great work keep it up proud of you 
Render came out beautiful. Nicely done.
this most took aloot of time
Very nice rendering.
Thank you so much WinterCG. 
Thank you very much everyone.
Yes, this took many hours. It was my first true exploration of what cycles could do with this many layers of volumes. I also learned a lot about working with particles for all the little clouds.
you really used volumes for them?, if it was someone else he would’ve used some cloud textures very cool
Thanks! Yes, lots of geometry particle clouds setup as volumes as well as a volume for the atmosphere (to create those cool long shadows). I did use textures from nasa for the big whispy clouds though.
Exceptional, but such a tiny render.
Thanks DJwaterman. Yes, it is small but I’ll take the compliment. I lost two weeks of my data on this project when I switched computers and when all was done I only had this render so I just went with it.
Also, I LOVE your space stuff DJwaterman, gorgeous!