Star profile
Gamma 2 Velorum
Variable starWhat is Gamma 2 Velorum
Gamma-2 Velorum is the closest Wolf-Rayet star to the Sun: a monstrous pair made of a blue O-type supergiant and a stripped core that has already exhaled most of its mass into space as a stellar wind. It shines roughly 170,000 times brighter than the Sun and is destined to detonate as a supernova. Its light, after travelling 1,117 years, reaches us as the echo of a cataclysm still to come.
Where it is and when to see it
Gamma 2 Velorum lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Gamma 2 Velorum
- Constellation
- Vela
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.75
- Distance
- 1117.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 122.383° · Dec -47.337°
- Catalogue
- HIP 39953 · HD 68273
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Vela
Vela has 127 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlsephinaDelta Velorum1.93
- SuhailLambda Velorum2.23
- MarkebKappa Velorum2.47
- Mu Velorum2.69
- HIP 467013.16
- Phi Velorum3.52
- Omicron Velorum3.60
- Psi Velorum3.60