Stars don't come from nothing. Nor do planets. We can see the slow, steady aggregation of gases into stars. We have pictures, again testifying to the glory of God. Stars form from clouds of hydrogen gas. The heavier elements get spun out and away from the protostar. Eventually, the star's gravitational field gets strong enough to light the star. It is another flare of light, with the sudden solar wind forcing the light gases well out and starting random aggregations of heavier elements spinning and collecting. Getting bigger while orbiting the star. Outer planets catch a lot of the gas blasted away when the star ignites. Inner planets are looking at the heavier stuff that doesn't shift much under light pressure.
You're complicating things. The "firmament" and "water above the firmament" part are basically the ancient people's way of explaining rain. They saw water falling from the sky (firmament) which appears like a blue ceiling and concluded water exists beyond it, which is what rain is, as it "fell through".
Liberal verbal gymnastics can make any creation mythology appear to parallel reality, if you ignore the simple details.
Studying the use of Hebrew words can actually be quite technical, but it is liberals who play word games in insisting firmament refers to a solid or semisolid domed sky, as the Hebrew word for “firmament” is not precise, and unlike what “firm” conveys, it can easily convey a non-solid realm, as in “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.” (Ps. 150:1)
And likewise it can refer to something rather ethereal above, and which in Genesis 1 divides the solid earth from the expanse above, and in which bird fly, and stars exist and move . (Gn. 1:6-20; Jdg. 5:20) And which is over the heads of creatures. (Exek. 1:22-26)
And as often seen in Hebrew poetic parallelization (chiasmus), in which a truth is repeated using different words having the same meaning (as in Ps. 119:105), firmament in Psalms 19:1 can refer to the heavens: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. “ (Psalms 19:1)
However, due to my past experiences with you and comrades (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2562273/posts?q=1&;page=51, etc.) in which objective explanations are utterly refused if they militate against atheistic anti-Bible assertions which they evidence they are determined to hold to, i will just leave you 3 links to sites which do more of that regarding this area in more detail: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/tj/v13/n2/firmament http://christianthinktank.com/gilgymess.html http://www.tektonics.org/af/babgenesis.html
Scripture indicates that it didn’t rain until the time of Noah’s flood. Before then, plants received moisture from a kind of mist (see Gen. 2:5 and 6). Why was the rainbow such a big deal to Noah? Because one had never appeared before, because it had never rained before.
A reasonable theory about this “firmament” is that it’s exactly what Scripture says — a layer of water at the edge of the atmosphere. This water layer (or vapor canopy) collapsed after “the fountains of the great deep burst forth” (Gen. 7:11). (Regarding “fountains of the deep,” consider that there’s more water beneath the mantle of the earth than in all the oceans of the world.)
Interestingly, during the time this vapor canopy enveloped the earth, people lived hundreds of years. After that point, they came to live fewer than 100 years.
All this to say that the biblical concept of “firmament” is just what it says, and has fascinating repercussions in regards to lifespan, the Great Flood, and so on.