Vela Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In the ancient Egyptian culture, there was a constellation called Argo Navis, which occupied the regions that currently occupy the constellations of Carina, Vela, and Puppis; this constellation was associated with the "Ship of Osiris," an essential Egyptian god.

In ancient Greece, Vela was still part of the constellation Argo Navis; however, in this culture, this constellation was associated with Jason's large ship and the Argonauts who were looking for the Golden Fleece.

In 1763 astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided the constellation Argo Navis into three sections because it was too large to be a single constellation; it was 28% larger than Hydra, the most prominent constellation today.

Being so large, it had too many stars of great luminosity that required a separate designation, so it was divided into three constellations Carina, Vela, and Puppis.

The three constellations were named after the parts of a ship, being the constellation Vela, precisely, the ship's sail.

In 1922 the International Astronomical Association added the constellation Vela to the 88 official night sky constellations as a fully independent constellation. Since then, it has not undergone significant modifications in its boundaries or name.

Vela currently covers a total area of 500 square degrees. It ranks 32nd in size among the 88 night sky constellations, one of the medium-sized constellations.

There are still books and celestial maps in some western countries where the three constellations Carina, Puppis, and Vela are still represented as one, but that is no longer official.

Vela resides in the second quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ2) between 30° N and 90° S, which means we can see the constellation in the night sky from all countries in the south of the earth and some countries of the northern hemisphere.

Vela is visible in America, Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan, and Antarctica.

Vela is not visible in regions above 30° N, such as the USA, Canada, Europe, Russia, Greenland, and Alaska.

The best month to visualize the constellation Vela is in March. It is visible during the spring in the northern hemisphere. While in the southern hemisphere, it is visible during autumn and winter.

The constellation Vela is large and with stars of the first magnitude and is very close to the second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus.

The easiest way to locate the Vela constellation is to find the second brightest star in the sky, Canopus; from there, we draw an imaginary straight line towards the star Gamma Velorum, the brightest in the constellation Vela. From there, we can see the rest of the constellation.

The constellations bordering Vela are Antlia, Pyxis, Puppis, Carina, and Centaurus.

In addition, Vela belongs to the family of constellations of celestial waters; these include Carina, Columba, Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus, Piscis Austrinus, Puppis, and Pyxis.

The constellation Vela officially contains 214 stars, of which 7 form the central figure of the constellation; these are Suhail al Muhlif, Koo She, Suhail, Markeb, Mu Velorum, Tseen Kee, and Psi Velorum.

It is the brightest star in the constellation Vela with an apparent magnitude of +1.75. It is approximately 800 light-years from the solar system.

Gamma Velorum is not an individual star but is a complex star system with at least seven components.

The brightest component, Gamma Velorum A (HD 68273), is a binary star of two very massive and hot stars: a Wolf-Rayet star and a blue star of spectral type O7.5.

With an apparent magnitude of +1.95, Delta Velorum is the second brightest star of the constellation Vela, located 79.7 light-years from Earth.

Delta Velorum is formed by an eclipsing binary system (Delta Velorum A) and a dwarf of spectral type F6V (Delta Velorum B), the latter having an apparent magnitude of 5.5.

It is an irregular variable whose brightness varies between apparent magnitude +2.14 and +2.30. 2 It is 570 light-years from the solar system. It is the third brightest star in the constellation Vela.

Vela is also home to several deep-sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies.

In the case of Vela, it has a large number of nebulae and star clusters, some of which are:

It is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vela of apparent magnitude 9.87. It is also known as the Southern Ring Nebula or Eight Burst Nebula. It is the most amazing deep-sky body in the constellation Vela.

NGC 3132 has a diameter of about half a light-year. At a distance of 2000 light-years from Earth, it is also one of the closest planetary nebulae and one of the most famous in the astronomical community for its colors.

• NGC 2792: This is a planetary nebula of almost circular shape. The central star has an approximate temperature of 130,000 K.
• NGC 2899: A planetary nebula discovered by John Herschel in 1835.
• Vela supernova remnant: It is located about 815 light-years away, and the progenitor star is thought to have exploded 11,000 - 12,300 years ago.
• Supernova remnant Vela Jr: It is one of the most studied objects of its kind in the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
• SNR G272.2-03.2: It is a supernova remnant that barely emits in radio frequencies.
• Gum Nebula: It is an emission nebula challenging to distinguish; it is thought that it also corresponds to a supernova remnant, although very expanded, from an explosion that occurred approximately one million years ago.
• Gum 19 is a star-forming region illuminated by the star V391 Velorum.
• IC 2391 or Ómicron Velorum Cluster: It is an open cluster visible to the naked eye. It consists of thirty stars.
• NGC 2547: An open cluster with an approximate age of between 20 and 35 million years.
• NGC 3201: It is a globular cluster distant 16,300 years from Earth.

Within the limits of the constellation Vela, there are 11 meteor showers; these are Gamma Velids, C Velids, Delta Velids, E Velids, January Mu Velids, Kappa Velids, Lambda Velids, Mu Velids, November Lambda Velids, October Lambda Velids, and Psi Velids.

The most notable of all is Gamma Velids, which occurs from January 4 to 17, and its peak of maximum observation occurs on January 5.

• Vela is a constellation located primarily in the southern hemisphere. The constellation's name comes from Latin and means "Candle," represented by the candle of a boat.
• The constellation Vela is located between 30° N and 90° S. The best month to observe the constellation is in March.
• The easiest way to locate the constellation Vela is to find the second brightest star in the sky, Canopus; from there, we draw an imaginary straight line towards the star Gamma Velorum, the brightest in the constellation Vela. From there, we can see the rest of the constellation.
• The brightest star in the constellation Vela is Gamma Velorum (γ Vel), with an apparent magnitude of +1.75.
• The most notable deep sky body in the constellation Vela is Nebula NGC 3132
• Within the constellation's boundaries, Vela occurs a shower of stars called Gamma Velids.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/vela-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-vela.html
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vela-astronomy
4. https://theplanets.org/constellations/vela-constellation/