This is my first attempt at creating a nebula.
The blue/green area is based on perlin ridges, to make them look like thin filaments of gas,
the reddish area is based on perlin billows and represent dust.
Basically they're huge colored clouds in space. The sun is sitting behind the bright area.
I originally planned to lower the brightness, but i'm happy the way it turned out.
The planet could use some work, but i'll get to that sometime this week.
I've also added two additional (off screen) light sources, yellow and orange.
(http://tg2.c-tron.nl/signed/Chiel_250412_CrabNebula_1920x1080_gimped_s.jpg)
Reminds me of the Crab Nebula super nova remnant. Throw some stars in there when you get a chance.
I'll throw in some more stars, in various colors, see what is does. Will take some time to render this on my i7 860.
My i7 990X is currently down for some well needed maintenance and cleaning (dust collector).
On the other hand, I might just render the frame without the planet and use Gimp to merge the old and new, since its the planet that takes most of the render time.
Just thinking out loud here...
Like the planet! Nebula is over the top for me though. Love the concept, but a little less nebula would be good. Or a lot more detailed. Also the light from the nebula should effect the color of the planet, at least a little, for as bright as it is. Just my thought about it, no worries.
I've combined two images into one. Used a voronoi function to create a cracked surface and used the nebula as some sort of dust/debris cloud.
Needs some retouching, but I'm happy with the result so far.
(http://tg2.c-tron.nl/signed/Chiel_030512_Desolate_III_PlanetBirth_Final_1920x1080_gimped_s.jpg)
You can warp the voronoi for a more random effect by a PF, a vector displacement node and a warp node.
With any luck, my i7 990X will be up and running again today and I'll give it a shot, or two shots for that matter.
Keep going!