VELA
The Ship's Sails
(Vel)


Generalities: it is a southern  constellation of average extension, with several stars of moderate brightness. Its transit at midnight takes place in February.

Origins and mythology: it is derived from the dismemberment of the big constellation of the Ship Argon, which occupied a big slice of the southern sky. From the Ship Argon  the Sail, the Hull and the Stern were drawn. The Ship Argon was the one used by the Argonautis driven by Jason to go to subtract the precious gold fleece of the sacred ram.

Stars: the Sail contains two stars under  magnitude 2. They are Regor, of blue color, with magnitude 1.78, and Koo She, of magnitude 1.96 and white color. Other three stars have magnitude inferior to three and other nine are under magnitude 4.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 
Star Proper name Magnitude Spectrum Colour Distance (light-years) Notes
Gamma Regor 1.78 WC7 blue 520
Delta Koo She 1.96 A0 white 68
Lambda Al Suhail al-Wazn 2.21 (variable) K5 orange 490
Kappa 2.50 B2 blue 390
Mu 2.69 G5 yellow 98
N 3.13 K5 orange 146

Other objects: in the Sail several open clusters are present, a quite bright globular cluster and the nebula of Gum ,the rest of the explosion of a supernova .


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