Vela (constellation)
- Puppiden - Velids
- Air pump
- Marine Compass
- Aft deck of the ship
- Keel of the boat
- Centaur
The sail of the ship (actually the sails, since the Latin name Vela represents the majority ) is a constellation of the southern sky.
Description
The sail is a vast constellation north of the keel of the ship ( Carina ). Four of his stars are strikingly bright
Through the constellation the starry band of the Milky Way pulls, so you can find the sail several open clusters, a globular cluster and a planetary nebula.
The star δ and κ Velorum together with ι and ε Carinae are sometimes confused with the Southern Cross. This group of stars is therefore also known as "Wrong Southern Cross".
From southern Central Europe and Southern Europe, only the northern part of the constellation is visible.
History
The sail of the ship is part of the ancient constellation Argo Navis, which was one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy.
The French astronomer Lacaille divided the very extensive and confusing constellation in 1763 in the constellations keel of the boat, aft deck of the ship ( Puppis ) and sailing. The original star designations have been retained, so that each Greek letter in the three constellations occurs only once. Therefore, there is a star α Carinae ( Canopus ), but no star α or α Velorum Puppis.
Mythology
Argo Navis was in Greek mythology, the ship of Jason and his companions, the Argonauts, who sought the golden fleece, a golden ram's fleece.
Celestial objects
Stars
Double stars
γ Velorum is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is a complex multiple star system in about 1000 light years away, which consists of at least six stars. The brightest γ ² Vel (or γ Velorum A) is a spectroscopic binary, ie, the two components orbit each other in such a close distance, they can not be separated by optical telescopes. Due to the Doppler effect, the spectrum is shifted in a characteristic manner. The system consists of a blue supergiant of spectral type O9 with 30 times the mass of our sun and the heaviest known Wolf -Rayet star with ten solar masses. The stars have a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) and orbit each other in 78.5 days. At a distance of 41.2 arcsec is γ ¹ Velorum (or γ Velorum B ), a supergiant of spectral type B and an apparent magnitude of 4.2 m. At a distance of 62.3 arcsec is of 8.5 m bright γ Velorum C. 93.5 arcseconds away from system A are the components of γ Velorum D and E with magnitudes of 9.4 and 13, your distance from each other is 1.8 arc seconds. The name Suhail Suhail al Muhlif or is of Arabic origin and means as much as " glorious star". The name Regor is more recent and is the astronauts Roger Chaffee remember ( Roger backwards), who was killed in a fire in an Apollo Command Module.
δ Velorum is a quadruple star system 80 light years away. It consists of the pairs of δ Vel A and B and δ Velorum C and D. As a result of the precession of the earth is δ Velorum in 7,000 years represent the southern polar star.
κ Velorum is a spectroscopic binary in 540 light years away. The two components orbit each other in 116.65 days. The Arabic name Markabs means " vehicle ". Carry the same name the stars α Pegasi and k Puppis.
μ Velorum is a binary star system, consisting of a yellow giant and a Sun-like yellow dwarf star.
Variable Stars
λ Velorum is a 570 light-years distant variable star that changes brightness with no apparent periodicity. He is an orange giant star at 200 times the diameter and 10,000 times the luminosity of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 4,000 Kelvin. He also bears the name Suhail or Alsuhail or Suhail al wazn.
Neutron stars
- Pulsar PSR 0833-45
NGC objects
NGC 2547 is an open cluster in 900 light years away. In a telescope about 40 stars are visible.
NGC 3201 is a globular cluster in16.000 light years away. With an average telescope in the edge region can be resolved into individual stars.
IC 2391 is a strikingly bright open cluster, which is already visible with the naked eye. In a prism binoculars he offers a beautiful sight. It is about 500 light-years away and is located near the star ο Velorum.
IC 2395 is an open cluster in 3,000 light- years away. Due to its greater distance, he is not as flashy as IC 2391, but is an interesting object for small telescopes.
The sail is beyond the remnant of a supernova explosion, the Vela supernova that could be seen on the earth about 10,000 years ago. On long exposure photographs misty complex structures are visible.