The Constellation Hydrus
Hydrus is a small constellation close to the south celestial pole. At most southern latitudes it is circumpolar, but appears highest in the midnight sky in October.
Easily confused with Hydra, the mythological water snake, Hydrus is a smaller water snake introduced by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, which first appeared on star maps in 1598. It is one of twelve constellations they introduced in that year which celebrate rare or exotic animals.
Hydrus is represented by three third-magnitude stars and two fourth-magnitude stars in a line which snakes between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC).
It does not have any bright deep sky objects.
1598 (Keyser & de Houtman)
0.6% of the sky
243.0 square degrees
Hydrus contains no Messier objects
Hydrus contains no Caldwell objects
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| β-Hyi (mag 2.8) | NGC 602 (mag 13.0) | NGC 1466 (mag 11.6) | NGC 1511 (mag 11.3) |
| α-Hyi (mag 2.9) | IC 1708 (mag 14.3) | NGC 1629 (mag 12.7) | NGC 1473 (mag 12.9) |
| γ-Hyi (mag 3.3) | NGC 796 | NGC 802 (mag 13.7) | |
| δ-Hyi (mag 4.1) | NGC 1557 | NGC 813 (mag 13.8) | |
| ε-Hyi (mag 4.1) | NGC 646 (mag 14.5) | ||
| η²-Hyi (mag 4.7) | NGC 643 (mag 15.7) | ||
| ν-Hyi (mag 4.8) | |||
| ζ-Hyi (mag 4.8) | |||
| λ-Hyi (mag 5.1) | |||
| μ-Hyi (mag 5.3) | |||
| θ-Hyi (mag 5.5) | |||
| ι-Hyi (mag 5.5) | |||
| π¹-Hyi (mag 5.6) | |||
| π²-Hyi (mag 5.7) | |||
| BN Hyi (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 7921 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 6631 (mag 5.9) | |||
| HIP 15968 (mag 6.0) | |||
| HIP 1706 (mag 6.0) | |||
| κ-Hyi (mag 6.0) | |||
| HIP 7387 (mag 6.0) | |||
| τ²-Hyi (mag 6.0) | |||
| HIP 8983 (mag 6.1) | |||
| HIP 9318 (mag 6.1) | |||
| HIP 7271 (mag 6.1) | |||
| HIP 14547 (mag 6.1) | |||
| HIP 15840 (mag 6.1) | |||
| σ-Hyi (mag 6.2) | |||
| HIP 7506 (mag 6.2) | |||
| τ¹-Hyi (mag 6.4) |
