Star Tales - Vela (ianridpath.com)

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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 - Argo Navis (ianridpath.com) Argo (Ἀργώ in Greek) is a constellation that is not so much disused as dismantled. It was one of the 48 constellations known to Greek astronomers, as listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest, but the 18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille found it large and unwieldy and so divided it into three parts: Carina, the Keel or body; Puppis, the Poop (i.e. stern); and Vela, the Sails. Were the three parts to be reunited, the resulting figure would be almost 28% larger in area than the current largest constellation, Hydra.