Vela 

is a constellation in the southern sky, which contains the Vela Supercluster. Its name
is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo
Navis, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. With an
apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one
component of which is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. Delta and Kappa Velorum,
together with Epsilon and Iota Carinae, form the asterism known as the False Cross. 1.95-
magnitude Delta is actually a triple or quintuple star system. Argo Navis was one of the 48
classical constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and represented the
ship Argo, used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek
mythology. German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his Uranometria of
1603, and gave the stars Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega. However, his chart was
inaccurate as the constellation was not fully visible from the Northern Hemisphere.[1]
Argo was more accurately charted and subdivided in 1752 by the French astronomer Nicolas
Louis de Lacaille, forming Carina (the keel), Vela (the sails), and Puppis (the poop deck). Despite
the division, Lacaille kept Argo's Bayer designations. Therefore, Carina has the Alpha, Beta and
Epsilon originally assigned to Argo Navis, while Vela's brightest stars are Gamma and Delta,
Puppis has Zeta as its brightest star, and so on.[1]
Vela is bordered by Antlia and Pyxis to the north, Puppis to the northwest, Carina to the south
and southwest, and Centaurus to the east. Covering 500 square degrees, it ranks 32nd of the
88 modern constellations in size. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by
the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Vel".[2]
The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a
polygon of 14 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of
these borders lie between 08h 13.3m and 11h 05.5m , while the declination coordinates are between
−37.16° and −57.17°.[3]