How to make planets in Photoshop

I found a bunch of really awesome tutorials on how to make planets in Photoshop. I think some of these can be applied in Gimp too, and I will try some of them later, probably posting some of the results here.
The problem with Gimp is that it doesn't have an advanced layer blending options like Photoshop does. For example, you have to rely on a filters to apply shadows, which is destructive editing. In photoshop, you can adjust or turn off the shadow anytime!
Most of the tutorials use a texture, but I've seen some that make use of the filters to generate a planet-looking surface.

Here's the first one. It should be enough to guide you, it's universal and with some creativity you can extend the notions learned to create even more awesome images ( right-click and then select "View Image" to view it fullsize):

This tutorial was created by Dinyctis, on deviantArt.

Another tutorial by the same author is about making planetary rings to spice up your planets.

This is a video tutorial on the same subject, yet this time the outcome looks like a space movie poster:

Make a realistic Star Field! Although, I doubt they looks like this in reality... you can check Hubble Ultra Deep Field for a comparison :).

Create a meteor impact with a planet.




And finally, create an absolutely goergeous looking SuperNova:

Tutorial link.

These should be enough to make a you a space artist! Happy editing ;).

Obscurity

I looked through my stuff and found a very old(probably about 14-15 years) Sega Mega Drive 2, on which I used to play(mostly mario) as a kid. Near it I also found 2 cartridges...(the only 2 I ever had, but as an added bonus, the Sega drive came with its own games....). For some reason I decided to shoot a photo of the cartridge, striped from its oversized casing. In low lighting conditions, it look like something old and unuseful.




Also I made a photo of a solar lamp in the dark, trying to emphasize the effect of the light passing through the transparent piece of plastic. I might have done it wrong with the warm colors, probably a blueish-mauve tone could've worked better.