An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The Sail. A part of the constellation Argo in the Southern hemisphere, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. Vela is situated at about 10h right ascension, -50° declination. Abbreviation: Vel; Genitive: Velorum.

From L. vela, plural of velum "sail, curtain, covering," velare "to cover, veil."

Bâdbân "sail," literally "wind keeper," from bâd→ wind + -bân a suffix denoting "keeper, guard," sometimes forming agent nouns or indicating relation, → host.

A pulsar with a short period (89 milliseconds) associated with the → Vela supernova remnant. It is approximately 1500 light-years distant. The Vela pulsar is one of the few pulsars detectable optically. Its optical flashes, of visual magnitude 26, were detected in 1977. Also named PSR 0833-45.

→ Vela; → pulsar.

A → supernova remnant located in the southern Milky Way in the constellation → Vela. It has a large angular diameter of about 8° and lies 250 ± 30 pc away (Cha et al. 1999, ApJ 515, L25). Its overall emission is dominated by the interaction of the → supernova blast wave with the → interstellar medium. This SNR is also notable for a number of protrusions extending well beyond its rim, which were suggested to be fragments of ejecta from the supernova explosion. X-ray spectroscopy has since confirmed several of these protrusions to indeed be strongly enriched with ejecta. The age of the SNR is estimated to be ~11,000 years, based on the spin-down rate of the associated → Vela pulsar, but ages as large as 20,000-30,000 years have also been argued.

→ Vela; → supernova remnant.

A compact radio source about 1500 light-years distant associated with the Vela supernova remnant. It has a nonthermal radio spectrum and is about 20 percent polarized. It is associated with the Gum Nebula, the Vela pulsar, and the X-ray source 2U 0832-45.

→ Vela; X for → X ray.