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Argo Navis was one of the 48 classical constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and represented the ship Argo, used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his Uranometria of 1603, and gave the stars Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega. However, his chart was inaccurate as the constellation was not visible from the Northern Hemisphere | Argo Navis was one of the 48 classical constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and represented the ship Argo, used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his Uranometria of 1603, and gave the stars Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega. However, his chart was inaccurate as the constellation was not visible from the Northern Hemisphere | ||
<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_%28constellation%29 Vela]</ref> | <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_%28constellation%29 Vela]</ref> | ||
==Etymology== | |||
Vela, Latin for the sails of a ship, is a constellation in the southern sky. It was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo Navis, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina andPuppis, plus a subordinate division of Argo now called Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box or Mariner's Compass, and which used to be called Malus, the Mast. | |||
The word Vela comes from the Indo-European root *weg-1 'To weave a web'. Suffixed form *weg-slo-; veil,Vela (sails, plural of velum), velarium, velum (sail), vexilum (a flag, banner, or ensign. The weblike part of a feather; the vane), voile (a fabric of plain weave used especially for making dresses and curtains), reveal1,revelation, (these words from Latin velum, 'a sail, curtain, veil'). [Pokorny weg- 1117. Watkins] | |||
To reveal something is etymologically to 'remove a veil' from it.<ref>[http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Vela.htm Constellations of Words]</ref> | |||
==HGS Session References== | ==HGS Session References== | ||