|
Constellation
Hydra - The Female Water Snake
Object name: Hydra
Other ID: no find or alias in SDB
Equatorial: RA: 10h 07m 27s Dec: -19°23'00"(current)
Equatorial 2000: RA: 10h 07m 12s Dec: -19°21'36"
Transit time: 16:33
Sky Database: Constellation
Abbreviation: Hya
Genitive Form: Hydrae
Description: The Female Water Snake
Pronunciation: HY' druh
Genitive Pronunciation: HY' dree
Hydra - The Female Water Snake
Hydra represents a giant
multi-headed water snake. It is the brother of the snake
represented in the constellation Draco.
Living in a swamp near the city of Lerna, the
Hydra would come ashore and kill
cattle for food. Hercules was given
the task of killing this monster as the second of his twelve labors.
He grappled with the animal and smashed at its heads with a club,
but whenever he destroyed one head, two new ones would grow in its
place.
Hercules then received help from his
charioteer, Iolaus, who burned the bloody stumps of each severed
head. Hercules buried the last head, which was immortal, under a
huge rock. He then carved open what remained of the animal and
dipped his arrow tips in its poison blood. The
Hydra is also mentioned in the
myth of Corvus the Crow.
Hydra is the largest constellation
in the sky, but it contains no stars brighter than
second
magnitude.
|
