March
VELA
VELA
VELA "The Sails"
This constellation was formerly part of the very large constellation
Argo Narvis - the ship of the Jason and the Argonauts who sought the Golden
Fleece, which was broken up in 1877 by Gould.
Since Vela is only part of a once-larger constellation, there are no
stars labelled a (alpha) or b (beta).
The stars k (kappa) and d(delta) Velorum, in conjunction with i (iota) and e (epsilon) Carinae, form the "False Cross" that is sometimes mistaken for the real Southern Cross (Crux).
Vela lies in a part of the Milky Way rich in faint nebulosity, visible
in long exposure photographs, known as the Gum Nebula, after the Australian
astronomer Colin S. Gum, who drew attention to it in 1952.
Near the centre of the gigantic Gum nebula lies the Vela Supernova
remnant (SNR), which photographs show as a beautiful intricate network
of filaments spreading over a diameter of nearly 16 Full Moons.
Within the remnant is the Vela pulsar, lying about 1500 light years
away.
Veal is very rich with open clusters and double stars.
g (gamma) Velorum ( also called Markeb) is the brightest star in the constellation and an interesting quintupal star system. Binoculars or a small telescope will show that it consists of two blue-white companions of magnitudes 1.75 and 4.3. The primary component is famous for being the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. These stars are a rare class with very hot surfaces that seem to be ejecting gas. There are also two wider companion stars.
d
(delta) Vel is magnitude 2.0 white star 68 light years away with a close
magnitude 6.5 companion star.
l (lambda) Vel is a magnitude 2.2 yellow supergiant star 490 years away.
m (mu) Vel is a magnitude 2.7 yellow giant star 98 light years away.
k (kappa) Vel is a magnitude 2.5 blue-white star 390 light years away.
NGC 2547 is a cluster of about 50 stars just visible to the unaided eye, but best seen in binoculars. Many stars are in chains and loops, and there are many pairs and small groups of stars, including a somewhat skew version of the Southern Cross.
IC 2391 is a bright
scattered cluster of 20 stars, 850 light years away, scattered around the
4th magnitude star o (omicron)
Velorum. It is visible to the unaided eye as a misty patch, but best in
binoculars or small wide field telescopes.
IC 2395 is a binocular cluster of about 16 stars, 4,500 light years
away. Also visible to the south is the 9th magnitude cluster NGC 2670.
NGC 2736 is a faint long narrow nebular streak in a rich star field.
It is an isolated easterly filament of the Vela supernova remnant. NGC
2736, the Pencil Nebula was first noted by John Herschel on March 1, 1835,
9=h3145) from South Africa. He described it "...as an extraordinary
long narrow ray of excessively feeble light". Extensive regions of
the Vela SNR are visible in modern telescopes around 8" - 10" in aperture,
an OIII filter helps see this object. The Pencil Nebula is almost exactly
on the Galactic equator.
NGC 3132 or
"Eight Burst" nebula, is a bright annular planetary nebula estimated as
being 2000 light years away. Photographs show an intricate, somewhat concentric
structure, as if several outbursts of gaseous material had emerged from
the star. The prominent central star, is not the true star exciting the
nebulous glow. This hotter star is of magnitude 16 discovered in 1976.
NGC 3201 is a globular cluster, less condensed than most. Some of the stars appear in short curved rays like jets of water from a fountain.
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