After a long long time, and some long long processing, Bruce and I finally concluded our collaboration adventure on the Lowers nebula. We tried to get a wide field shot (see our image at: https://astrob.in/3bfy0s/0/) and a close up, and merging our results together. This merge created a super challenge though, since the pixel scales of 0.85 and 2.35 are far far away. A standard star aligning was absolutely impossible, and several special tricks needed to be done to be able to merge the data.

With this image, we were able to prepare the raw images in such a way that we could stack them in PI!! Take my word, using this gap in pixel scale is not recommended! BUT ... after this long fight it was possible to stack them in one batch, very cool!

The combining was a different story though, the stars in the combined image were of course not ideal, and the RGB addition was something that we wanted desperately to have. Hence, we took the approach to use the original stars from the FLT132 and "color" them with the RGB stars, and that turned out to be magnificent 😊.

The signal strength of the combined image was great to have! Using the details of the FLT132 and enhance them with this signal made the trick.

The final color adjustments are always a delicate procedure, you do not want to create an "unnatural" look, whatever this is for SHO images 😊😊. Total reduction of the green channel is also IMHO not a good decision. Many many trials later the image above emerged and we found that this should be the one.

Lessons learned:
1. Be closer in pixel scale in a collaboration project, this makes life soooooooooooo much easier.
2. Try to get the same angle, actually I tried to match Bruce's but used instead of -20  plus 20, rookie mistake.

All in all, it was again a wonderful time with Bruce that I really enjoyed. Personally, I think that - with so many images already taken - collaborations are the way of the future. Backyard astro photography is always limited by light pollution, and in order to "compete" with remote images, we "old-fashioned" ones have to stick together and collect as many hours as we can (weather!!!) to create an image that surpasses anything that can be done alone. Thanks Bruce again for this wonderful adventure, and a special thanks for your patience with me!!