Vela

Bright constellation of the southern hemisphere near Carina, represented as the sails of a ship. It contains large wisps of gas - called the Gum nebula after its discoverer, the Australian astronomer Colin Gum (1924-1960) - believed to be the remains of one or more supernovae. Vela also contains the second optical pulsar (a pulsar that flashes at a visible wavelength) to be discovered.

Vela was originally regarded as part of Argo. Its four brightest stars are second-magnitude, one of them being Suhail, about 490 light years from Earth.