Hydra

H Y D R A __**~Translation~Genitive~Abbreviation~** __ Hydra’s abbreviation is Hya. The genitive is Hydrae. Hydra translates to a water serpent. __**~Position~In~The~Sky~And~It's~Stars~**__ It’s position in the sky is as follows: It’s right ascension is 10 hours; It’s declination is -20 degrees; It’s visible between latitudes 60 & -90 degrees; It’s best seen in April at 9:00 P.M. Hydra has two main stars that are named. They are: Alphard (Alpha Hya), which is two stars that can only be depicted by using a telescope, and Al Minliar al Shuja (Sigma Hya). His messier objects are M48 (open cluster), M68 (globular cluster) M83 (spiral galaxy). __**~Facts~About~Hydra~**__ Hydra is the serpent of Lerna. He is a beast with the body of a hound and the head of a serpent. In some stories Hydra has 100 heads but in more common legends, or tales he only has 9. Hydra had poisonous breath and since it was so hideously ugly people died just from looking at him. Some say he was born of Echidna, whom was half maiden half serpent. One of Hercules’s great tasks was to kill this monster and rid the world of it. The only problem was that every time he cut off Hydra’s mighty heads, three more grew back in its place. After having this problem, Hercules had his charioteer, Iolus, burn the stub of its neck where the head once was. This prevented the terrible regeneration of this beast’s brain as well as his head. Over all, Hydra is a very weird constellation. It is the largest constellation, followed by Virgo, but it is strung out from Libra to Canis Major. It stretches across the horizon about 90 degrees. This constellation used to be bigger though like the old Argo Navis, it was split into four parts. Stellar cartographers including Flamsteed and Hevelius broke it into Sextan (the sextants), Crater (the cup), Corvus (the crow), and the newly reduced Hydra. Felis the Cat was also added to these new constellations. A French astronomer added him. In between Hydra, Antlia, and Pyxis, he drew a little cat and named him Felis. Felis was unfortunately not officially adopted so it remains an anecdote. **__ ~Mythology~ __** One of the legends of this battle was that Hera, the mighty goddesses, sent a giant crab down to Earth to attack the feet of Hydra and make it so that Hercules should win. This legend was mostly believed because pottery was recovered with Hercules fighting the Hydra and Hera sending the Crab down from the heavens. Other legends state that a stray arrow set the forest alit and Hercules used this to cauterize open wounds. Hydra’s mother, Echidna, was the hideous mate of Typhon. She was also the daughter of Ceta. Her head was hat of a beautiful nymph, while her body was that of an ugly serpent. Zeus didn’t kill her because she and her children were left for challenges of future heroes to kill. Echidna’s children consist of: Nemean Lion, Cerberus, Ladon, Chimera, Sphinx, and Hydra.  Typhon is the child of Gaia and Tartarus. He and Echidna were so fearful that all the gods and goddesses saw him; they fled in terror after changing, or morphing into animals. He had 100 heads that touched the stars. Typhon had evil eyes that dripped horrible venom. Lava and red-hot stones and rock poured from all his retched, gaping jaws. While hissing and roaring like lion and snake combined, he ripped up mountains and threw them at the gods and goddesses. Zeus finally got enough courage to fight this beast. After seeing this, the others turned and decided to help. The battle raged and hardly an animal was left on Earth after all the destruction. As Zeus was fated to win, he hurled a well-aimed lighting bolt at the Mount Aetna that Typhon threw at him and the mountain to this day, is spiting fire and rocks out of the top. This is because Typhon was said to be trapped. Echidna hid in a cave during all this time and protected the offspring they created. Picture of Hydra (scroll over picture) http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/hya30.html
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__**~Picture~References~ **__http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/Alphard-alpha-Hydri-2008-03-09-f20-auto-take1.png http://www.net4tv.com/Voice/graphics/story/80_hydra.jpg http://philologos.org/__eb-tws/images/40hydra.gif http://www.snapstream.com/images/community/hydra/Hydra.bmp

references: http://www-hydra.stanford.edu/ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Hydra.html

Created By Connor Payne Self reflection is on my other page, Bo** ö  **tes.