The 365 Days Of Astronomy, The Daily Podcast Of The International Year Of Astronomy 2009

Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. actualastronomy@gmail.com Episode 500! The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Constellation Taurus. In this episode Chris and Shane celebrate their 500th episode by exploring all the nebulae and star clusters in Taurus.    Taurus the Bull charges, head down toward Orion. The unmistakable V-shaped pattern marks the Hyades, catalogued as Melotte 25; this is the nearest open cluster at 153 light-years. First-magnitude Aldebaran burns red as the eye of the bull, but it is an accidental member being almost three times closer.   We also read a few listener emails and answer a question about observing in the snow! - Dan from Switzerland: Dear Chris! Thanks for the compliment on my lunar sketch! - Question from Corey: After having a conversation with a colleague, an interesting question came up: how does snow affect the sky quality? Does the extra albeido of the white landscape bump up the bortle scale a notch or two?   Please subscri