Nighttime and astrophotography with IR

[RECTOR TRAVIS ARTHU <rector@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All-

I'm new to the IR list, so rather than lurk I thought I'd throw
out my interests.  I'm interested in using IR film for nighttime
and astrophotography.  Last winter I played around with some
Kodak HIE, shooting some snow covered landscapes (in -20F temps!)
and the Moon with fairly impressive results (if people are interested
I can post some examples to the IR gallery).  For astrophotography
IR film >could< be useful because extended red sensitivity is needed
to record the Hydrogen "alpha" line at 656.3nm, which is why most
nebulae are red.  Gas-hypered Tech Pan is the undisputed king for
this type of work, but I'm interested in playing around with IR
films as well.  The problem, however, is that IR films (as far as
I can tell) are much too slow, even Kodak HIE.  For some "normal"
films this can be overcome with gas-hypering; and some films simply
have excellent reciprocity failure characteristics.  Does anyone
have experience with gas-hypering of IR films or know of the reciprocity
characteristics?

-Travis

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Topic No. 4