Hya - Hydra the Water Snake

A faint constellation between Gemini and Leo.

Procyon, the brightest star of Canis Minor, serves as the vertex of the Winter Hexagon lying between Gemini and Sirius.

Partially visible only in March and April from 35 degrees north latitude.

Hadar, a knee of the Centaur, is on a line from Alpha Centauri to Crux.

On the back of Hydra, kite-shaped pattern, low in the south.

Dim stars on the back of Hydra; shape of a cup.

Hydra the Water Snake is the largest and longest of the constellations, stretching from Cancer to Libra. Several constellations and asterisms ride on its back; from head to tail they are Sextans the Sextant, Crater the Cup, Corvus the Crow, and Noctua the Owl.

East of the Gemini twins lies Leo the Lion.

Find the bowl of the Big Dipper. A line running through the two stars of the bowl of the Big Dipper on the side nearest the handle points almost directly to two other notable stars. Follow them below the bowl of the Dipper to Regulus.

Leo’s mane looks like a backward question mark, or sickle. Regulus, the "dot" at the bottom of the mark, lies nearly on the ecliptic.

His flank is a triangle of stars farther east.

Libra is the only inanimate object in the zodiac. It was associated with the scales held by the goddess of justice. 

The Unicorn is running up behind Orion, who has not heard it coming (a sign of its magical nature).