The DSP Archimedes prepares to depart orbit of Gelden. Its destination is the outskirts of the Dollaev cluster visible at far left. Gelden orbits a hot blue binary star system, seen partially eclipsed in this view. The planet and several minor satellites were colonized 125 earth-years earlier. Gelden has become a hub of galactic exploration and gate building to extend interstellar routes. It lies at the center of a loose cluster of hot, massive stars that are gradually nearing the end of their brilliant lives. The Archimedes' current survey will establish a network of fold-gates and open up hundreds of worlds to exploration and colonization in the rich open cluster in the distance.
I worked up this digital illustration in 2004 using Adobe Illustrator 9 to lay out the design of the Archimedes. I then used Photoshop 7 to generate the image.