SkyEye

The Water Snake

Near the end of the sixteenth century, the observations of Dutch explorers Frederick de Houtman (c.1571–1627) and Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (c.1540–1596) allowed Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius (1552–1622) to place this constellation on his 1598 celestial globe. The two brightest stars, both unnamed and both third-magnitude, are β Hyi and α Hyi. Hydrus should not be confused with the much larger constellation of Hydra.