Vela Vel
Vela is one of the 88 constellations, covering 500 square degrees of the sky (32nd largest). It is highest at midnight in February and best in the evening sky in March and April.
8 of its best-known objects have a page of their own here.
Facts
| Abbreviation | Vel |
|---|---|
| Size | 500 square degrees (32nd largest of the 88; the full Moon covers about 0.2) |
| Middle (J2000) | 9h 36m, −48° |
| Highest at midnight | February (in the evening, around 8–10 pm: March and April) |
| How high | From India (about 20° N) its middle climbs to about 22° above the horizon; from 50° N it never rises. |
| Pages here | 8 objects |
Nebulae
2Black holes, pulsars and other extreme objects
1Stars
4Other objects
1Brightest NGC and IC objects
OpenNGC| Object | Type | Magnitude | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| IC 2391 (omi Vel Cluster) (on the map) | Open star cluster | 2.5 | 29.1′ |
| IC 2395 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 4.6 | 6′ |
| NGC 2547 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 4.7 | 7.8′ |
| NGC 3228 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 6 | 6.6′ |
| NGC 2669 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 6.1 | 8.4′ |
| NGC 2910 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.2 | 4.8′ |
| NGC 2645 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.3 | 6.6′ |
| IC 2488 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.4 | 7.2′ |
| NGC 3330 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.4 | 5.1′ |
| NGC 2670 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.8 | 4.2′ |
| NGC 2925 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 8.3 | 7.5′ |
| NGC 2659 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 8.6 | 5.1′ |
Smaller magnitudes are brighter; the faintest stars the eye sees are about 6. The full Moon is about 31′ across.
Data: IAU constellation boundaries (Roman 1987) · OpenNGC (Mattia Verga, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Data sources & credits