Hyi - Hydrus the Southern Water Snake
Intro and Visual description
Hydrus has only three stars above the fourth magnitude.Hydrus is the Little Snake, not to be confused with Hydra, the big one.
Special Stars
Of easy-to-spot stars, the closest to the south pole is Beta-Hydri. Magnitude: 2.8. The south celestial pole actually lies in Octans the Octant.
The Magellenic clouds are satellite galaxies bubbled off of the Milky Way like spray from a fountain. However, some astronomers consider them galaxies in their own right (the LMC has a degree of spiral structure). These bright regions of light, observed by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519 and by other early explorers like Amerigo Vespucci and Marco Polo, are also known as Cape Clouds.
Origin and History
One of the eleven southern constellations created by Pieter Dirksz Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in 1596. These were published in Plate Aaa of Johann Bayer, Uranographia (1603).
