have you try photo-stacking? Even star trace can be done beautifully.
Not sure what you mean by star trace - are you referring to something like this? [0]
[0] http://www.dimijianimages.com/More-page1/star-trails-Botswan...
[1] http://tir.astro.utoledo.edu/jdsmith/code/exposure_blend.php
[2] http://www.instructables.com/id/HDR-photos-with-the-GIMP/