The constellation Vela

The constellation Vela

Vela (sails of the ship) is a constellation of the southern hemisphere. Until the 18th century, it was part of the constellation of the mighty ship Argo (Argo Navis). In 1756, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided it on a star chart into three parts: the keel (Carina), the afterdeck (Puppis) and the sails (Vela) of the ship. The division was finally fixed in 1763 in his star catalogue. Its brightest star, γ Velorum, bears the unofficial nickname Regor: the astronaut Gus Grissom read the first name of his colleague Roger Chaffee backwards. Both died in 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire.

Mythology

Parts 1 and 2 are under the constellations Puppis and Carina.

The ship Argo and the Argonauts (part 3) – Out of gratitude, Phineus told the Argonauts how they could get past the Cyanean Rocks, which crushed humans and animals passing between them. They let a dove (the constellation Columba) fly ahead, which passed the rocks before they crashed together. When the rocks opened again, they passed through themselves. The voyage continued through icy winds. In the Black Sea, they met many different peoples and came to the island of Tia (island of Ares) with the Stymphalian birds, which shot their feathers like arrows. Hercules had already driven them away with noise once before, in one of his twelve labours (the constellation Hercules). So the Argonauts, too, scared them off with loud shouting and by beating on their shields. Jason went to King Aeetes in the capital, Kyta, who owned fire-breathing bulls, a gift from Hephaestus, the god of fire. If Jason sowed dragon's teeth with them in the field of Ares, he would receive the Golden Fleece. With the help of Medea, the king's daughter, he succeeded. But the king did not want to hand over the Fleece and planned to kill the Argonauts during the night. On the condition that Jason would marry her, Medea betrayed her father and helped to steal the Fleece. The journey home was dangerous too: Orpheus drowned out the Sirens with his singing, and on Crete Medea defeated the bronze giant Talos. Back home, Jason handed the Golden Fleece to Pelias, but Pelias did not keep his promise to give him the throne. Disguised as a priestess, Medea then persuaded Pelias' daughters to cut him into pieces and boil him, so that she could rejuvenate him with her magic. The daughters obeyed, but Medea refused to use her magic. Pelias' son Acastus drove Jason and Medea out of Iolcus. They fled to Corinth, but did not find happiness there either: ten years later, Jason fell in love with Glauce, the king's daughter, and Medea was cast out. She took revenge by killing their children, as well as the king and his daughter.