- And as I observed that in the words I think, hence I am, there is nothing at all which gives me assurance of their truth beyond this, that I see very clearly that in order to think it is necessary to exist, I concluded that I might take, as a general rule, the principle, that all the things which we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true, only observing, however, that there is some difficulty in rightly determining the objects which we distinctly conceive.
- Gamma Hydrae (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
Skipping over obscure (at least in brightness) fourth magnitude Beta Hydrae (the southernmost of Hydra’s outlining stars), exact third magnitude Gamma Hydrae (3.00) comes in at number two, just beating out a host of slightly lesser stars (such as Nu, Zeta, Pi, and Epsilon).
- Gamma Hydrae (Wikipedia)
Gamma Hydrae (γ Hya, γ Hydrae) is a binary star in the equatorial constellation of Hydra. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.0, placing it second in brightness among the members of this generally faint constellation. Based upon parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, this star is at a distance of around 133.8 light-years (41.0 parsecs) from Earth.