What is the Hydra?

The constellation of Hydra is both the largest and longest of all the constellations, spanning almost 7 hours of Right Ascension, and covering over 1300 square degrees. The attendant constellations of Corvus, Crater, and Sextans seem to ride on the back of Hydra as it winds across the sky. While on the whole, this is a rather sparse region of the sky containing primarily faint and distant galaxies, there are three Messier objects and several fine Herschel objects in the area, making the hunt worthwhile. Hydra is often associated with the hydra that Hercules defeated, but it is also associated with another myth where a crow brought a serpent to the god Achilles. Outraged, Achilles cast the crow, the serpent, and the cup to the sky. For his second labor, Herakles was sent to kill the Hydra. Herakles succeeded in doing this. Hera placed the Hydra in the sky. It is near the constellations of Herakles and Cancer who was the crab Hera had sent to aid the Hydra.

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