Vela (constellation)

Vela (Latin for sails) is a southern constellation, one of the four parts into which Argo Navis was split (the others being; Carina (constellation), Puppis and Pyxis.

Of the deep sky objects of interest in Vela is a planetary nebula known as the Eight-Burst nebula. Also of interest within the constellation is the Vela Supernova Remnant. This is the nebula of a supernova explosion which is believed to have been visible from the Earth around 10000 years ago. The remnant contains a pulsar which was the first pulsar to be identified optically apart from that in the Crab Nebula.

Mythology

Since Vela was originally part of the Argo Navis, it has no pre 17th century mythology associated with it independently. However, Vela is one of the three constellations that used to form the former constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, of which Vela happens to be the sail.

False Cross

The False Cross is an asterism formed of the stars Delta Velorum and Kappa Velorum and Iota Carinae and Epsilon Carinae. It is sometimes mistaken for the Southern Cross, causing errors in astronavigation.

Notable and named stars

< Roger ^*, honoring Roger Chaffee, one of the astronauts who died in the Apollo fire
Suhail and Muliphein shared with λ Velorum
double star; component magnitudes: 1.82, 4.27
Wolf-Rayet star

< Koo She (of chinese origin)
quadruple star; component magnitudes: 2.02, 5.00, 11.00, 13.50

< سهيل المحلف suhayl al-muħlif The glorious (star) of the oath. suhayl "glorious" is a common name for bright stars.
Suhail and Muliphein shared with γ Velorum

< مركب markab The vehicle etc.
Markab shared with α Pegasi and κ Puppis

< 天紀 (Mandarin tiānjì) Heaven's record star chart

double star; component magnitudes: 4.12, 4.65

has a planet

has a planet

BD	F	Names and other designations	Mag.	Ly away
γ^1,2		Gamma Velorum, Regor, Suhail, Suhail al Muhlif, Muliphein	1.82	840
δ		Delta Velorum	1.93	79.7
λ		Lambda Velorum, Suhail, Suhail al Muhlif, Al Suhail, Alsuhail, Suhail Alwazn, Muliphein	2.21	573
κ		Kappa Velorum, Markab	2.47	539
μ		Mu Velorum	2.69	116
N		N Velorum	3.16	238
φ		Phi Velorum, Tseen Ke	3.52	1930
ο		Omicron Velorum	3.60	495
ψ		Psi Velorum	3.60	60.5
c		c Velorum	3.75	309
b		b Velorum	3.77	3100
p		p Velorum	3.84	86.5
q		q Velorum	3.85	103
a		a Velorum	3.87	1550
d		d Velorum	4.05
e		e Velorum	4.11
x		x Velorum	4.29
M		M Velorum	4.34
i		i Velorum	4.37
w		w Velorum	4.45
J		J Velorum	4.50
m		m Velorum	4.58
H		H Velorum	4.68
n		n Velorum	4.74	1900
B		B Velorum	4.79	1510
r		r Velorum	4.82
Q		Q Velorum	4.85	1080
l		l Velorum	4.92
g		g Velorum	4.94
C		C Velorum	5.01	877
L		L Velorum	5.01
t		t Velorum	5.02
F		F Velorum	5.08
f		f Velorum	5.09
u		u Velorum	5.09
I		I Velorum	5.09
D		D Velorum	5.15
z		z Velorum	5.24
K		K Velorum	5.26
A		A Velorum	5.33	1640
h		h Velorum	5.47
y		y Velorum	5.51
	16	16 Velorum	5.52
O		O Velorum	5.56
s		s Velorum	5.76
E		E Velorum	5.79
k¹		k¹ Velorum	5.85
		HD 75289	6.36	94^*
		HD 83443	8.24	142^*

Source: The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed., The Hipparcos Catalogue, ESA SP-1200

External links

Vela constellation | Astronomical asterisms

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Mythology

False Cross

Notable and named stars

See also

External links