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Hydra (abbr. Hya, gen. Hydrae)
The Water Serpent. Hydra is the largest constellation of all (following the dismantling of Argo Navis), stretching across a huge swathe of the southern sky. See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.
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| Hydra. © 2003 Torsten Bronger. Copied here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star | Visual mag. |
Abs. mag. |
Spectral type |
Distance (lt-yr) |
R.A. (h m s) | Dec. ( ° ' '' ) |
| Alpha (Alphard) | 1.99 | -1.69 | K3III | 177 | 09 27 35 | -08 39 31 |
| Gamma | 2.99 | -0.55 | G8IIIa | 132 | 13 18 55 | -23 10 17 |
| Zeta | 3.11 | -0.22 | G8III | 151 | 08 55 24 | +05 56 44 |
| Nu | 3.11 | -0.03 | K0III | 139 | 10 49 37 | -16 11 37 |
| Pi | 3.25 | 0.75 | K2III-IIIbCN | 101 | 14 06 22 | -26 40 56 |
| Epsilon | 3.38 | 0.29 | G0III | 135 | 08 46 47 | +06 25 07 |
| Xi | 3.54 | 0.55 | G8III | 129 | 11 33 00 | -31 51 27 |
| Lambda | 3.61 | 0.88 | K0IIICN | 115 | 10 10 35 | -12 21 15 |
| Mu | 3.83 | -0.58 | K4.5III | 248 | 10 26 05 | -16 50 11 |
| Theta | 3.89 | 0.90 | B9.5V | 129 | 09 14 22 | +02 18 51 |
| Other objects of interest | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Type of Object | Notes |
| Ghost of Jupiter | planetary nebula | NGC 3242. See separate entry |
| M48 (NGC 2548) | open cluster | On the boundary of Hydra and Monoceros and at the edge of naked-eye visibility. Magnitude 5.8; diameter 54'; R.A. 08h 13.8m, Dec. -05° 48' |
| M68 (NGC 4590) | globular cluster | Discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780. Magnitude 8.2; diameter 12'; distance 39,000 light-years; R.A. 12h 39.5m, Dec. -26° 45' |
| M83 (NGC 5236) | galaxy | A face-on type Sc spiral just outside the Local Group. Magnitude 8.2; distance 8.5 million light-years; R.A. 13h 37.0m, Dec. -29° 52' |
| Constellations |
| Andromeda | Antlia | Apus | Aquarius | Aquila | Ara | Aries | Auriga | Bootes | Caelum | Camelopardalis | Cancer | Canes Venatici | Canis Major | Canis Minor | Capricornus | Carina | Cassiopeia | Centaurus | Cepheus | Cetus | Chamaeleon | Circinus | Columba | Coma Berenices | Corona Austrina | Corona Borealis | Corvus | Crater | Crux | Cygnus | Delphinus | Dorado | Draco | Equuleus | Eridanus | Fornax | Gemini | Grus | Hercules | Horologium | Hydra | Hydrus | Indus | Lacerta | Leo | Leo Minor | Lepus | Libra | Lupus | Lynx | Lyra | Mensa | Microscopium | Monoceros | Musca | Norma | Octans | Ophiuchus | Orion | Pavo | Pegasus | Perseus | Phoenix | Pictor | Pisces | Piscis Austrinus | Puppis | Pyxis | Reticulum | Sagitta | Sagittarius | Scorpius | Sculptor | Scutum | Serpens | Sextans | Taurus | Telescopium | Triangulum | Triangulum Australe | Tucana | Ursa Major | Ursa Minor | Vela | Virgo | Volans | Vulpecula |
Related categories
• NOTABLE STARS
• NEBULAE AND STAR CLUSTERS
• GALAXIES
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