Thanks, folks

I've been playing with masking the foreground and increasing contrast of "space"  I still have not found the right recipe.  (I just thought I was through with this image, that was a mistake).   Even with the power of PS CS3, I can't find the button labeled "make my image same as my imagination".

My method of creating the star field and nebula dust is different from what will be most peoples approach.  My method is what is causing problems in tweaking the image satisfactorily ( I'll share that with the entry upload.)