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40-562: Argo Navis was one of the 48 classical constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy , and represented the ship Argo , used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology . German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his Uranometria of 1603, and gave the stars Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega. However, his chart

80-547: A Sumerian origin related to the Epic of Gilgamesh , a hypothesis rejected for lack of evidence that Mesopotamian cultures considered these stars, or any portion of them, to form a boat. Over time, Argo became identified exclusively with ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts . In Ptolemy 's Almagest , Argo Navis occupies the portion of the Milky Way between Canis Major and Centaurus , with stars marking such details as

120-453: A Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Suhail for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names ( Canopus had its name approved as is, and Zeta Puppis was given the name Naos ). In Chinese astronomy , Suhail is called 天記 ( Pinyin : Tiānjì), meaning Judge for Estimating

160-468: A blue-white star of spectral type B2IV-V and magnitude 2.47 but is in fact a spectroscopic binary. The two orbit around each other with a period of 116.65 days, but the size, mass and nature of the companion are as yet unclear. The orange-hued Lambda Velorum , or Suhail, is the third-brightest star in the constellation. A supergiant of spectral type K4Ib-II, it varies between magnitudes 2.14 and 2.3, and lies 545 light-years distant. It has around 11,000 times

200-811: A cluster of several hundred young stars that power an HII region. The star-forming region lies in Clump 6 in the Vela Molecular Ridge Cloud C. Argo Navis Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo , is one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations, now a grouping of three IAU constellations. It is formerly a single large constellation in the southern sky . The genitive is "Argus Navis", abbreviated "Arg". John Flamsteed and other early modern astronomers called it Navis (the Ship), genitive "Navis", abbreviated "Nav". The constellation proved to be of unwieldy size, as it

240-473: A distance of 1,116 light-years, meaning that they are at least 12,000 AU apart. Further afield are 7.3-magnitude Gamma Velorum C and 9.4-magnitude Gamma Velorum D, lying 62 and 93 arcseconds south-southeast from Gamma. The next brightest star is Delta Velorum or Alsephina, also a multiple star system and one of the brightest eclipsing binaries in the sky. Together with Kappa Velorum or Markeb, Iota Carinae or Aspidiske and Epsilon Carinae or Avior, it forms

280-423: A polygon of 14 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system , the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 08 13.3 and 11 05.5 , while the declination coordinates are between −37.16° and −57.17°. The brightest star in the constellation, Gamma Velorum, is a complex multiple star system. The brighter component, known as Gamma Velorum, shines as a blue-white star of apparent magnitude 1.83. It

320-447: A result of this breakup, Argo Navis is the only one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations that is no longer officially recognized as a single constellation. In addition, the constellation Pyxis (the mariner's compass ) occupies an area near what in antiquity was considered part of Argo's mast. Some recent authors state that the compass was part of the ship, but magnetic compasses were unknown in ancient Greek times. Lacaille considered it

360-532: A resulting drop in magnitude of 0.4 when the dimmer one passes.in front of the brighter. Delta B is a 5.1 magnitude yellow G-class star of similar dimensions to the Sun which ranges between 26 and 72 AU away from the brighter pair, taking 142 years to complete a revolution. Further out still, at a distance of 1700 AU, are two red dwarfs of magnitudes 11 and 13. If they are part of the multiple system, they take 28000 years to complete an orbit. Also called Markeb, Kappa appears as

400-440: A separate constellation representing a modern scientific instrument (like Microscopium and Telescopium ), that he created for maps of the stars of the southern hemisphere. Pyxis was listed among his 14 new constellations. In 1844, John Herschel suggested formalizing the mast as a new constellation, Malus , to replace Lacaille's Pyxis , but the idea did not catch on. Similarly, an effort by Edmond Halley to detach

440-404: A single Greek-letter sequence and described the constellation for those stars as "Argûs". Similarly, faint unlettered stars were listed only as in "Argûs". The final breakup and abolition of Argo Navis was proposed by Sir John Herschel in 1841 and again in 1844. Despite this, the constellation remained in use in parallel with its constituent parts into the 20th century. In 1922, along with

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480-404: Is a planetary nebula known as NGC 3132 , nicknamed the 'Eight-Burst Nebula' or 'Southern Ring Nebula' (see accompanying photo). It lies on the border of the constellation with Antlia. NGC 2899 is an unusual red-hued example. This constellation has 32 more planetary nebulae. The Gum Nebula is a faint emission nebula , believed to be the remains of a million-year-old supernova. Within it lies

520-455: Is a star in the southern constellation of Vela . With a mean apparent visual magnitude of 2.21, this is the third-brightest star in the constellation and one of the brighter stars in the sky. The distance to this star can be measured directly using the parallax technique, yielding an estimated 545 light-years (167 parsecs ) from the Sun . λ Velorum ( Latinised to Lambda Velorum )

560-526: Is a Sun-like star of spectral type G2/G3V located around 138 light-years away that is orbited by two super-Earths with periods of 13 and 46 days and masses 8.3 and 10.1 times that of Earth, respectively. The discovery of a binary brown dwarf system named Luhman 16 only 6.6 light-years away, the third-closest system to the Solar System, was announced on 11 March 2013. Of the deep-sky objects of interest in Vela

600-439: Is a poor, loose cluster, though detached from the star field. It is somewhat concentrated at its center, and its less than 50 stars range moderately in brightness. Located 2 degrees south of Gamma Velorum, NGC 2547 is an open cluster containing around 50 stars of magnitudes 7 to 15. NGC 3201 is a globular cluster discovered by James Dunlop on May 28, 1826. Its stellar population is inhomogeneous, varying with distance from

640-419: Is a spectroscopic binary made up of two very hot blue stars orbiting each other every 78.5 days and separated by somewhere between 0.8 and 1.6 Astronomical Units (AU). The brighter component is a hot blue main-sequence star of spectral type O7.5 and is around 280,000 times as luminous, is around 30 times as massive and is 17 times the diameter of the Sun with a surface temperature of 35,000 K. The second component

680-460: Is a star of apparent magnitude 12.3 located 815 light-years away, which has a hot Jupiter-like planet that orbits every 0.7 days. HD 73526 is a Sun-like star of spectral type G6V that has two planets around double the mass of Jupiter each with orbits of 187 and 377 days, respectively. HD 85390 is an orange dwarf of spectral type K1.5V lying around 111 light-years distant with a planet 42 times as massive as Earth orbiting every 788 days. HD 93385

720-467: Is an extremely rare example of hot star known as a Wolf–Rayet star , and is the closest and brightest example in the sky. It has a surface temperature of 57,000 and is around 170,000 times as luminous as the Sun, though it radiates most of its energy in the ultraviolet spectrum. Gamma is a blue-white star of spectral type B2III and apparent magnitude 4.3. The two pairs are separated by 41 arcseconds, easily separable in binoculars. Parallax measurements give

760-516: 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". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by

800-423: Is ejecting material at tremendous speed (up to a million kilometres per hour) into its surrounds. This material glows as it hits surrounding gas. NGC 2670 is an open cluster located in Vela. It has an overall magnitude of 7.8 and is 3,200 light-years from Earth. The stars of NGC 2670, a Trumpler class II 2 p and Shapley class-d cluster, are in a conformation suggesting a bow and arrow. Its class indicates that it

840-479: Is located 2.8 degrees north-northeast of Gamma, a Delta Scuti variable of spectral type A2p-F2pIV/V that ranges between magnitudes 6.15 and 6.76 in around 2.7 hours. V390 Velorum is an aged star that has been found to be surrounded by a dusty disk. An RV Tauri variable , it has a spectral type of F3e and ranges between magnitudes 9.01 and 9.27 over nearly 95 days. Omicron Velorum is a blue-white subgiant of spectral type B3III-IV located around 495 light-years from

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880-408: Is the star's Bayer designation . It bore the traditional Arabic name سهيل الوزن Suhail al Wazn , but as a modern navigation star this was shortened to Suhail . ' Suhail ' (a common Arabic male first name) was traditionally used for at least three other stars: Canopus ; Gamma Velorum (Suhail al Muhlif); and Zeta Puppis (Suhail Hadar). In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized

920-792: The "cloud of mist" at the prow of Argo Navis to form a new constellation named Robur Carolinum (Charles' Oak) in honor of King Charles II , his patron, was unsuccessful. In Vedic period astronomy, which drew its zodiac signs and many constellations from the period of the Indo-Greek Kingdom , Indian observers saw the asterism as a boat. The Māori had several names for the constellation, including Te Waka-o-Tamarereti (the canoe of Tamarereti), Te Kohi-a-Autahi (an expression meaning "cold of autumn settling down on land and water"), and Te Kohi . Lambda Velorum Lambda Velorum ( λ Velorum , abbreviated Lambda Vel , λ Vel ), officially named Suhail / ˈ s uː h eɪ l / ,

960-522: The Golden Fleece . Some stars of Puppis and Vela can be seen from Mediterranean latitudes in winter and spring, the ship appearing to skim along the "river of the Milky Way ." The precession of the equinoxes has caused the position of the stars from Earth's viewpoint to shift southward. Though most of the constellation was visible in Classical times, the constellation is now not easily visible from most of

1000-451: The Great Dog's [Canis Major's] tail is drawn; for hers is not a usual course, but backward turned she comes ...". In modern times, Argo Navis was considered unwieldy due to its enormous size (28% larger than Hydra , the largest modern constellation). In his 1763 star catalogue, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille explained that there were more than a hundred and sixty stars clearly visible to

1040-404: The luminosity class Ib meaning that it is a lower luminosity red supergiant star. The outer envelope of λ Velorum has an effective temperature of about 3,835  K , giving it the cool orange hue of a K-type star . It is an Lc-type, slow irregular variable star with its brightness varying between apparent magnitudes +2.14 to +2.30. λ Velorum is an evolved star that has exhausted

1080-466: The "little shield", the "steering-oar", the "mast-holder", and the "stern-ornament", which continued to be reflected in cartographic representations in celestial atlases into the nineteenth century (see below). The ship appeared to rotate about the pole sternwards, so nautically in reverse. Aratus , the Greek poet / historian living in the third century BCE, noted this backward progression writing, "Argo by

1120-493: The Age of Animals , because this star is marking itself and stands alone in the Judge for Estimating the Age of Animals asterism . Ghost mansion (see: Chinese constellation ), 天記 (Tiānjì), was westernized into Tseen Ke , but the name Tseen Ke was designated for Psi Velorum by R. H. Allen works and the meaning is "Heaven's Record". It has an spectral classification of K4 Ib, with

1160-570: The Solar System. A slowly pulsating B star, it ranges between magnitudes 3.57 and 3.63 over 2.8 days. It is the brightest star in, and gives its name to, the Omicron Velorum Cluster, also known as IC 2391 , an open cluster located around 500 light-years away. Seven star systems have been found to have planets . HD 75289 is a Sun-like star of spectral type G0V with a hot Jupiter planetary companion that takes only about 3.51 days to revolve at an orbital distance of 0.0482 AU . WASP-19

1200-422: The core. The effective temperature of the stars shows an increase with greater distance, with the redder and cooler stars tending to be located closer to the core. As of 2010, is one of only two clusters (including Messier 4 ) that shows a definite inhomogeneous population. RCW 36 is a star-forming region in Vela, and one of the nearest sites of massive star formation. This star-forming region has given rise to

1240-400: The core. The star's outer envelope has expanded to form a deep, convective , hydrogen-burning layer that is generating a magnetic field . The surface strength of this field has been measured at 1.72 ± 0.33 G . Massive stars use their hydrogen "fuel" much faster than do smaller stars and Lambda Velorum is estimated to be only some 32 million years old. λ Velorum is near the upper end of

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1280-677: The diamond-shaped asterism known as the False Cross —so called because it is sometimes mistaken for the Southern Cross , causing errors in astronavigation . 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 the 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) which orbit each other every 45.2 days and lie 0.5 AU from each other, with

1320-452: The hydrogen in its core region. It has about seven times the mass of the Sun. Despite having the luminosity class of a red supergiant star, it is likely to be on or approaching the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), although its properties do not exclude it being a slightly more massive star on the red giant branch (RGB). As an AGB star it has an inert core of carbon and oxygen and is alternately fusing helium and hydrogen in two shells outside

1360-417: The luminosity, 9 to 12 times the mass and 207 times the diameter of the Sun. 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

1400-461: The naked eye in Navis, and so he used the set of lowercase and uppercase Latin letters three times on portions of the constellation referred to as " Argûs in carina " ( Carina , the keel ), " Argûs in puppi " ( Puppis , the poop deck or stern ), and " Argûs in velis " ( Vela , the sails ). Lacaille replaced Bayer's designations with new ones that followed stellar magnitudes more closely, but used only

1440-498: The northern hemisphere. All the stars of Argo Navis are easily visible from the tropics southward and pass near zenith from southern temperate latitudes. The brightest of these is Canopus (α Carinae), the second-brightest night-time star, now assigned to Carina. Argo Navis is known from Greek texts, which derived it from Egypt around 1000 BC. Plutarch attributed it to the Egyptian "Boat of Osiris ." Some academics theorized

1480-468: The other constellations, it received a three-letter abbreviation: Arg . The breakup and relegation to a former constellation occurred in 1930 when the IAU defined the 88 modern constellations, formally instituting Carina , Puppis , and Vela , and declaring Argo obsolete. Lacaille's designations were kept in the offspring, so Carina has α, β, and ε; Vela has γ and δ; Puppis has ζ; and so on. As

1520-518: The smaller and younger Vela Supernova Remnant . This is the nebula of a supernova explosion that is believed to have been visible from Earth around 10,000 years ago. The remnant contains the Vela Pulsar , the first pulsar to be identified optically. Nearby is NGC 2736 , also known as the Pencil Nebula. HH-47 is a Herbig-Haro Object , a young star around 1,400 light-years from the Sun that

1560-433: Was 28% larger than the next largest constellation and had more than 160 easily visible stars. The 1755 catalogue of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided it into the three modern constellations that occupy much of the same area: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the poop deck or stern), and Vela (the sails). Argo derived from the ship Argo in Greek mythology , sailed by Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis in search of

1600-692: Was inaccurate as the constellation was not fully visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Argo was more accurately charted and subdivided in 1752 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille , forming Carina (the keel ), Vela (the sails), and Puppis (the poop deck ). Despite the division, Lacaille kept Argo's Bayer designations . Therefore, Carina has the Alpha, Beta and Epsilon originally assigned to Argo Navis, while Vela's brightest stars are Gamma and Delta, Puppis has Zeta as its brightest star, and so on. Vela

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