This is from the AUM 81.

First write this in your while loop of the playership or whatever you want to have the stars created around.

Code:
action player_ship()
{
   ... // whatever
   while(1)
   {
   star_pos.x = my.x - 500 + random(1000);
   star_pos.y = my.y - 500 + random(1000);
   star_pos.z = 0;
   effect(starfield, 1, star_pos.x, nullvector);

   wait(1);
   }
}


And add following functions to your script.

Code:
function starfield(PARTICLE *p)
{
       p.alpha = 5 + random(50);
       p.bmap = star_tga;
       p.size = 2 + random(1); // generate stars with random sizes
       p.flags |= (BRIGHT | TRANSLUCENT);
       p.event = fade_stars;
}

function fade_stars(PARTICLE *p)
{
       p.alpha -= 0.5 * time_step; // fade out the stars
       if (p.alpha < 0)
       {
               p.lifespan = 0;
       }
}


Now particles are created around the player. You can set the range of the particles also in the depth.

Just change star_pos.x, star_pos.y and star_pos.z to your wishes.

Dont forget if you want to chang the value random always needs the half of itself. Otherwise the stars would be more on one side than another.

Example:

500 + random(1000) // I want to increase the radius

2500 + random(5000) // Hell yeah! Thats some good radius!

Greets