There are lots of tutorials about making a planet, but most of them are very difficult for the beginner in Photoshop. This one is actually easy and simple so that even a beginner can achieve the result desired.

1. Start by opening the texture you’re going to work with. With the Elliptical Marquee Tool make a circle, then invert the selection (Shift+Ctrl+i) and press delete. Invert the selection again.

2. It looks a bit flat, doesn’t it? Go to Filters ->Distort -> Spherize and set the value to 100%. Now it’s starting to look like a real planet.

3. Make a new layer (Layer -> New -> Layer) and be sure to hold the selection. Fill with whatever colour you want and change Fill on the layer palette to 0%. Now open the Blending Options and add Inner and Outer Glow (for Inner Glow i set the Opacity to 75% and the Size to 100 pixels, and for Outer Glow the Opacity to 60% and the Size to 25).

4. To finish we have to add the shadow, so make a new layer and with a soft brush darken the side where there should be no light. Change the opacity of the layer to about 90% and you’re done.