Secrets in Hydra is the topic of Part #3 of our image presentation, where we want to share the results from our astrophotography-trip to the Hacienda Los Andes in Chile.

With "Secrets in Hydra" we will show you some objects which you can find in the area of the constellations Antlia (Ant), Cancer (Cnc), Hydra (Hya), Leo (Leo), Pyxis (Pyx) and Virgo (Vir). The constellation Hydra is an often overlooked region of the sky because of the absence of "prominent" objects. Nevertheless we could find some nice targets, especially galaxies in Hydra and in its neighbourhood.

NGC 2818 is a beautiful planetary nebula in Pyxis, which is located 10,400 light-years away. In the constellation Hydra you can find the spiral galaxy NGC 3312, which is located 140 million light-years away and is part of the Hydra Galaxy Cluster (Abell 1060). Abell 1060 contains 157 bright galaxies and is part of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster.

NGC 3621 is a truly remarkable galaxy. First of all it's a pure-disc galaxy with spiral arms, where young stars are forming in clusters. But while most spiral galaxies have a central bulge - a large group of old stars packed in a compact, spheroidal region - NGC 3621 doesn't. It's also interesting, that it is believed to have an active supermassive black hole at its centre. NGC 5084 is another interesting galaxy, because it's one of the most massive disk galaxy known today. Last but not least we have captured NGC 5556, another nice galaxy in Hydra, which has been discovered by John Herschel in 1834.