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(meteorobs) Moon nights

Guys -

Just waking up here ;)  Had trouble sleeping last night after reading one of the
articles in WGN, which arrived in the mail yesterday... my first issue!

I was reading the article on Photographic Observation of the 1995 Perseids in
Japan, by Murayama, Ohtsuka and Taguchi.  Something they mentioned really
sparked my curiosity....

They were talking about running Canon T70 cameras with FD 85 mm F1.2 lenses, and
using Kodak High Speed Infrared Film 2481, with Kenko R60 (red) filters, and
mentioned that they had found this film and filter combination to be very
effective for photographing meteors, even with moonlight or light pollution...
They also mentioned that it is advantageous for recording high-velocity meteors,
such as Perseids, due to some strong spectral emissions in the near-infrared
region of high-velocity meteors...

It's been a very long time since I've done any meteor photography, and that was
black & white, unguided, rotating shutter work, self-developed, back in the
early '70's.  Most of my photography in recent years has been terrestrial,
colour slides....  However, I now have a guided platform I can use - my scope.
My camera has a 55mm lens, F1.7.

I love photography in its own right, and enjoy playing around with films.
Recently, I've been playing with films for comets.  Last year, I found that
Kodak Ektachrome 160T (tungsten) picked up comet ion tail much better than
normal response films.  With this comet, I've been experimenting with Kodak
Ektachrome 320T, a new higher speed tungsten film.  Especially near
light-polluted areas, I've been getting good results.  

I'm also interested in filters.  I was fascinated by the article on filters for
observing comets - in the book 'Observing and Photographing the Solar System' by
Dobbins, Parker, and Capen.  They talk about, among other things, use of filters
to reduce the effect of scattered light.

My questions are:

1.  Do other groups out there use special films and filter combinations for
meteors to combat moonlight?  If so, what are they?  

2.  With regard to the comments on high-velocity meteors, do they all have
strong spectral emissions in the near-infrared?  In other words, what showers
might benefit from near-infrared film, and what showers from more normal
response film?  And how about low-velocity meteors - what showers would seem to
benefit from what types of film... ?  

3.  Has anyone ever looked at the possible use of filters for visual work, say,
for moonlit nights?  Some sports utilize tinted glasses, depending on sky
conditions.  For example, trap and skeet shooters, viewing fast-moving painted
clay disks, both in daylight and at night under lights, wear different tinted
glasses to best increase the contrast of these fast-moving objects against the
sky.  Has anyone ever tried, say, lightly tinted yellow glasses to counteract a
bright moonlit sky for visual meteor observing? 

- Cathy
  Curious in the Great White North...
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