Good thread.
I've got to sleep now but I strongly encourage people to check out Micheal Whelan - one of my favourite artists. He does sci-fi, spacey stuff that evokes these kinds of feelings in me. I originally was made awake of him on /wg/ probably 5-6 years ago. There was a torrent of his major works, but alas the dump is on my other PC.
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/