  We present Chandra X-ray Observations of the Hydra A cluster of galaxies, and
we report the discovery of structure in the central 80 kpc of the cluster's
X-ray-emitting gas. The most remarkable structures are depressions in the X-ray
surface brightness, $\sim 25-35$ kpc diameter, that are coincident with Hydra
A's radio lobes. The depressions are nearly devoid of X-ray-emitting gas, and
there is no evidence for shock-heated gas surrounding the radio lobes. We
suggest the gas within the surface brightness depressions was displaced as the
radio lobes expanded subsonically, leaving cavities in the hot atmosphere. The
gas temperature declines from 4 keV at 70 kpc to 3 keV in the inner 20 kpc of
the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), and the cooling time of the gas is $\sim
600$ Myr in the inner 10 kpc. These properties are consistent with the presence
of a $\sim 34 \msunyr$ cooling flow within a 70 kpc radius. Bright X-ray
emission is present in the BCG surrounding a recently-accreted disk of nebular
emission and young stars. The star formation rate is commensurate with the
cooling rate of the hot gas within the volume of the disk, although the sink
for the material cooling at larger radii remains elusive.
