Vela
WordNet
noun
(1) A constellation in the southern hemisphere between Carina and Pyxis
"Because of its configuration Vela is sometimes called `the Sails'"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From vēla (pl. of vēlum), the "sails of a ship"
Proper noun
- A spring constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the sails of a ship. Until 1763, it was part of a larger constellation, Argo Navis.