Well, sort of exploding anyway…okay, it’s not actually exploding at all in this picture, but it will be in an update or so, trust me ! 
I’m currently trying to make a realistic-looking explosion, this will take some time. This picture shows the moon doing…err…something.
Full info and picture here :
http://www.solarflarestudios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65&start=45
It’s another part of my 2001 project, of course.
Let me know what you think !
That’s no moon!
…hehe, sorry just had to say that. Looks really good, I like the distortion, makes it look like it’s getting completely torn apart from inside by a huge force!
the planet itsself looks good! 
very good. the explosion itsself… fine, but for me the particles are a bit to big. I can see them too clear
very cool!
Update - animation test of what I have so far, I think I have the basics right but it needs lots of tweaking, any ideas are welcomed, especially any advice to improve the actual explosion. Thanks for the comments too, I’ll keep them in mind, I’ll see if I can get away with smaller particles (without having long render times). Anyway the animation so far can be downloaded here :
http://www.solarflarestudios.com/forum/download.php?id=261
320*240 resolution, DivX 5.05, 1.5mb size.
Is the animation so perfect that it needs no comments then ? 
that’s nice. you should have the moon crack up and then have some volumetric light coming out from the center. 8)
Ok… i like the choice of colors in your anim. Theyre pretty good choice from my opinion. The animation is alos very nice.
Now my crits… The blue gushing energy looks more lilke water sprouting from a ball full of holes, the ending with blue energy is very nice tough.
The explosion, the shockwave ball doesn’t fit here IMHO. Try replacing it with regular ring shockwave.
Stars would be nice.
Thanks for commenting !
totxof : yes I should and yes I wil. (doesn’t have a realistic cracking-up but never mind)
Hippie : I think the water effect comes from the environment map on the moon, which I like so won’t change.
Replacing the spherical shockwave with a normal ring one…maybe, if not in the next update then the one after that.
Stars ? Damn ! Well I’ve started rendering an improved version so they’ll have to wait…I’ll definately put them in though.
I should have an updated animation online later, unless it desperately needs tweaking. I’ll concentrate on the explosion because I think that needs most work.
Okay, update with volumetric light and dupliverted rocks :
http://www.solarflarestudios.com/forum/download.php?id=264
Still needs work but I think I’m getting there…
A though occurs. Why the hell am I posting this at 12:20 am on my 20th birthday ? :o That ain’t right at all ! Goodbye losers, I’m outta here !
(only joking)
cool, I like that one a little better. It’s more realistic with the color I guess. The blue was cool too. Maybe it could be blue and then when it breaks up it could change to the yellow-orange you have now. Anyway it looks good.
Hey, today is my birthday! Woohoo!
Update at last… think I’ve got it more or less right now :
http://www.solarflarestudios.com/forum/download.php?id=268
tortoxf : yep, the blue bit is staying, I’m just concentrating on the explosion because I think the blue bit is done.
Happy birthday for a week ago last saturday !
THat is Fantastic, How did you do the distortion?
Thank you, but what distortion exactly ?
Well, It looks as if the moon is a bit distorted, maybe It’s just an illusion.
That is pretty dang sweet. Love the anim.
Thank you ! Here is a final version (probably, I will still post finished version here since it’s part of a larger sequence). The background stars vanish and reappear because of problems with volumetric beams and the background pictures…I hope this isn’t too noticeable.
WOW! :o Great animation.
Only small crit I can say is to have some smaller rocks flying around as well.
BgDM
very creative
i meanits nto at all realistic but its pretty cool non the less.
i like the spinny thing at the start and stuff i think thats pretty cool
Alltaken
I liked it. One nit that i picked was the spinning at the beginning. I think its spinning a bit too fast. Maybe its just me.