Vela

Vela is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo Navis, which was later divided into three or four parts, the others being Carina, Puppis and, according to some authorities, Pyxis. With an apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one component of which is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. Delta and Kappa Velorum, together with Epsilon and Iota Carinae, form the asterism known as the False Cross. 1.95-magnitude Delta is actually a triple or quintuple star system. ... Vela is bordered by Antlia and Pyxis to the north, Puppis to the northwest, Carina to the south and southwest, and Centaurus to the east. Covering 500 square degrees, it ranks 32nd of the 88 modern constellations in size. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Vel". ... Stars. The brightest star in the constellation, Gamma Velorum, is a complex multiple star system. The brighter component, known as Gamma2 Velorum or Regor, shines as a blue-white star of apparent magnitude 1.81.... The second component is an extremely rare hot star known as a Wolf–Rayet star, and is the brightest example in the sky. It has a surface temperature of 57,000 to 70,000 K, and is around 100,000 times as luminous as our sun, though radiates most of its energy in the ultraviolet spectrum. ... Gamma1 is a blue-white star of spectral type B1IV and magnitude 4.2. ... Further afield are 7.3-magnitude Gamma Velorum C and 9.4 magnitude Gamma Velorum D... The next brightest star is Delta Velorum, also a multiple star system and one of the brightest eclipsing binaries in the sky. Together with Kappa Velorum, Iota and Epsilon Carinae, it forms the diamond-shaped asterism known as the False Cross—so called because it is sometimes mistaken for the Southern Cross, causing errors in astronavigation. Like the Southern Cross, three of its main four stars are whitish and one orange, but it is larger and fainter. Appearing as a white star of magnitude 1.95, Delta is actually a triple or possibly quintuple star system located around 80 light-years from our Solar System. Delta A has a magnitude of 1.99 and is an eclipsing binary composed of two A-type white stars (Delta Aa and Ab)... Delta B is a 5.1 magnitude yellow G-class star... Also called Markeb, Kappa appears as a blue-white star of spectral type B2IV-V and magnitude 2.47 but is in fact a spectroscopic binary. ... The orange-hued Lambda Velorum, or Suhail, is the third brightest star in the constellation. An supergiant of spectral type K4Ib-II, it varies between magnitudes 2.14 and 2.3... AH Velorum is a Cepheid variable located less than a degree to the northeast of Gamma. A yellow-white supergiant of spectral type F7Ib-II, it pulsates between magnitudes 5.5 and 5.89 over 4.2 days. Also lying close to Gamma, V Velorum is a Cepheid of spectral type F6-F9II ranging from magnitude 7.2 to 7.9 over 4.4 days. AI Velorum is located 2.8 degrees northnortheast of Gamma, a Delta Scuti variable of spectral type A2p-F2pIV/V that ranges between magniudes 6.15 and 6.76 in around 2.7 hours. [Vela (constellation). Wikipedia]