Vela
1
8.5
- proper noun
- Specialized
- When they turned their instruments skyward for calibration on the Vela pulsar, they serendipitously discovered the spectacular displays by gamma-ray bursts.
- Vela satellites
Examples
-
Looking down over the Indian Ocean, sensors aboard a Vela satellite were momentarily overwhelmed by two closely spaced flashes of light.
Academic text (1998) -
According to Ray Klebesadel, principal investigator for the Vela gamma-ray detectors, scientists did not expect nuclear explosions in space to yield the optical fireball that has become their hallmark here on Earth.
Academic text (1996) -
Over the next several years, the Vela team continued to collect burst data, which was finally published in 1973.
Academic text (1996) -
Vela scientists concluded that these were not weapons tests.
Academic text (1996) -
On September 22, 1979, a US Vela satellite detected a double flash of light in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Blog text (21) -
Whether or not Vela satellites ever detected clandestine weapons tests is still classified.
Academic text (1996) -
The Vela series of spacecraft was conceived and built at Los Alamos National Laboratory, birthplace of the atom bomb.
Academic text (1996) -
The Vela pulsar, born in a supernova about 10,000 years ago, spins rapidly at about eleven revolutions per second.
Academic text (1994) -
The clusters move as a group toward a small patch of sky between the constellations Vela and Centaurus.
-
The object at right is 1,140 light-years away in Vela and is known as Herbig-Haro 46/47.
Surface Forms
Etymology
Vela comes from the Latin velum, meaning 'sail' or 'veil'. So Vela is the 'Sails' of the old ship Argo, which is why this constellation is remembered as the ship's sails in the sky.