- Star Tales - Vela (ianridpath.com)
One of the three sections into which the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided the oversized Greek constellation of Argo Navis, the Argonauts’ ship, in his southern star catalogue of 1756. In that preliminary catalogue he gave it the French name Voilure du Navire, which was Latinized to Vela in his final catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum of 1763.
- Star Tales - Apus (ianridpath.com)
One of the dozen new constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century from observations of the southern sky by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Apus represents a fabulous bird of paradise, as found in New Guinea, but it is a disappointing tribute to such an exotic creature, its brightest stars being of only 4th magnitude.
- Vela (constellation) (Wikipedia)
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.
