You need volumetric spheres, but be careful not to overlap them as you will get artifacts on the material. I have a tutorial about making clouds here which may help you to some extent. Ignore the part about changing the volume blend altitude and distance as it wouldn't be needed for this scene. Then you could place a radial light at the base of the space ship and increase the brightness. Probably best to set the range distance that the light has.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/tutorial/index.php?tutorial_id=2279

I'll have a go at making the image myself and see what I can come up with.

http://joevinton.blogspot.com/