Project Hyperion

... <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/e/e…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Eek)"/>
Wow, this really blew me away when I first saw it.
I'll go into details in the order I noticed them. The first, of course, was the golden colour of the sunset and then the deep blue sky above. The colours contrast yet go so well together in any photo/image. My eyes were drawn into this image amongst the others in the DD row because of this. Next, I saw the curve of the contrail, a 'streak of light' against the dark sky.
My eyes were led down, past the clouds to the base of the trail, The detail amazed me. The effect of light on the dust, sand and/or dirt thrown up by the launch are astonishing. It almost seems as if I can see each individual grain of sand if I look close enough, (I wouldn't be surprised if I could at 7680x12000px).
I then understood what was actually going on in the image, I saw the moons crescent and the 'craft' curving towards it's destination.

When I properly looked at the sand at the bottom of the image, I started to wonder if this WAS actually a photo.
The manipulation is beautifully put together, I cannot see any imperfections. The text at the top and the border do a lot, it wouldn't be the same without them.
This has to be probably the best photomanip i've ever seen.

Really awesome! I could go on for ages talking about this... As a fan of anything to do with space, anything with a force and stunning light, this is perfect for me. It's not too overdone in colour either, in my opinion it doesn't need to be.

As for improvement, I can't think of anything much. Maybe faint stars, except that may be distracting.

This is the first critique I've given 5 stars, Beautiful! I want to see more. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)"/>