Vela
What is Vela?
Constellations· Southern summer–autumn · half of the False Cross. The Sails of the old ship Argo, split off in the 18th century. It sits in the thick of the Milky Way, packed with clusters, and its gamma star is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star visible to the naked eye. Pick a southern city in the Sky view to see it.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Vela is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=con:Vela — location and time set automatically, no login.
Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Regor | 1.8 |
| Alsephina | 2.0 |
| Suhail | 2.2 |
| Markeb | 2.5 |
The 4 brightest of the 8 stars used in the figure (8 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Deep-sky objects near this constellation
Constellation basics
| Season | Jan–Apr evenings (S); only the top edge from Korea |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | γ Velorum (Regor), mag 1.8 |
| How to find | between Carina and Crux — δ and κ form the False Cross |
| Area rank | 32nd of 88 |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Vela?
- Jan–Apr evenings (S); only the top edge from Korea.
- How do I find Vela?
- between Carina and Crux — δ and κ form the False Cross.
- What is the brightest star in Vela?
- Regor, magnitude 1.8.
- Where is Vela in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
The Gum Nebula, spanning 36° of sky
Centred on Vela, an emission nebula 36° across spreads over the sky. The Gum Nebula, found on photographic plates by the Australian Colin Gum in 1955, is the largest nebular structure in the sky, too wide and faint for the eye or a telescope and captured only in long exposures. At about 1,500 light-years its true diameter exceeds 1,000 light-years.
Two readings of its nature stand side by side: the expanding remnant of a supernova about a million years ago ionising the surrounding gas, or a bubble lit by the ultraviolet of hot stars such as Gamma Velorum. The much smaller Vela supernova remnant (11,000 years old) sits inside it, another explosion within the great bubble. The bright stars of Vela shine from the middle of this vast cloud that no one can see.
The constellation in depth
Vela, the Sails, was born when the French astronomer Lacaille carved the enormous Greek constellation Argo Navis — Jason's ship — into three parts in the 1750s. That is why it has no alpha or beta star: the Greek letters were assigned to the whole ship and stayed with their stars. Its brightest star is gamma Velorum, sometimes called Regor.
Gamma Velorum is a multiple system that includes a Wolf-Rayet star, a giant tens of thousands of times brighter than the Sun that is shedding its outer layers. The constellation also holds the Vela supernova remnant and the Vela Pulsar spinning eleven times a second. Delta and kappa Velorum join two Carina stars in the False Cross, a classic trap for people hunting the real Southern Cross.
Spanning declinations of about −40° to −55°, Vela only nudges above the southern horizon from Korea around midnight in February and March. From the southern hemisphere it rides high in the summer sky, wrapped in Milky Way. Set Sydney or Cape Town as your location in the Sky view on a January–March evening to see the whole figure.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.