Vela is not visible to most northern observers. It lies along the southern Milky Way, and it is bordered by Puppis, Carina, and Centaurus.
History and Mythology
Vela was named for the sails of the ancient ship Argo Navis, in which Jason and the Argonauts sailed to find the golden fleece. This is one of the constellations that was formed when Lacaille divided the constellation Argo Navis into four smaller groups in the 1700s.
Notable Stars
Gamma Velorum has the traditional name Suhail al-Muhlif, short for the Arabic phrase meaning "the glorious star of the oath". It has the modern name Regor, which is "Roger" spelled backwards, and honors the Apollo astronaut Roger Chaffee. It was originally inserted onto NASA star charts by fellow astronaut Gus Grissom as a practical joke, but has since endured as a memorial to both astronauts, who died in the 1967 Apollo 1 fire.
Gamma Velorum is a spectacular and complex group of four stars which can be observed in a small telescope. It has two blue-white stars with magnitudes of 1.8 and 4.3 separated by 41 arcseconds. The other companions are of 9th and 10th magnitude.
Confusingly, the name Suhail is also applied to Lambda Velorum. This Suhail is a red giant of 2nd magnitude. Psi Velorum is a double star of magnitudes 3.6 and 4.2.
Clusters, Nebulae, and Galaxies
NGC 2547 is a loose open cluster of 5th magnitude, at a distance of about 1,300 light-years. NGC 2670 is a 9th magnitude cluster at a distance 3,200 light-years. IC 2391, the Omicron Velorum cluster, is a bright southern cluster of 30 stars with a total magnitude of 2.5 - but this is heavily weighted by Omicon Velorum itself.
NGC 3201 is a globular cluster of low central concentration which is partially obscured by dark interstellar material. It is about 16,300 light-years away.
NGC 2736, the Pencil Nebula, is a ribbon of nebulosity which is part of the larger Gum Nebula, a remnant of the Vela supernova which occurred over 10,000 years ago.
The planetary nebula NGC 3132 is known as the "Eight-Burst" nebula, and has a bright central star of 9th magnitude.
There are no galaxies brighter than 12th magnitude in Vela.