# Gamma Velorum (Regor)

Gamma Velorum (Regor) is a star in the constellation Vela, magnitude 1.8.

**The Spectral Gem of the southern skies — home of the nearest Wolf–Rayet star, and a tribute to an astronaut.**

Gamma Velorum holds the nearest and brightest Wolf–Rayet star — a massive [star](https://astropilot.space/glossary/star) that has blown away its outer layers, baring its fierce, hot interior. Born with about 35 times the Sun’s mass, it has shed all but about nine. Its partner is a blue supergiant of some 30 solar masses, and the two whirl round each other every 78.5 days. Their winds collide so violently that they accelerate particles, and the Fermi telescope has seen gamma rays rise and fall in step with the orbit. Both stars will probably end as supernovae.

Its bright emission lines, where most stars show dark ones, earned it the nickname ‘the Spectral Gem of Southern Skies’. Its modern name, Regor, is Roger spelled backwards — a tribute to the astronaut Roger Chaffee, who died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967.

Gamma Velorum (Regor) is 1,100 light-years away: the light we see from it set off around AD 930, around the time al-Sufi described the Andromeda Galaxy in his Book of Fixed Stars.

## Did you know?

- **No official name.** Neither Regor nor the Arabic al-Suhail al-Muhlif has been approved by the IAU, making Gamma Velorum the brightest star without an official proper name.
- **At least four stars.** The fainter star of the visible pair is itself a close binary with a 1.48-day orbit, so the system is a [multiple star](https://astropilot.space/glossary/multiple-star) of at least four. Several hundred young stars are scattered around it.

A bright blue-white star in the sails of Vela, on the Milky Way. Steady binoculars or a small telescope split it into a bright star and a fourth-magnitude companion, with more faint stars around them.

## When and where to see it

It is best placed in the evening sky around February, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in January). It can be seen from everywhere south of 43°N and never sets south of 43°S.

At its highest it stands below the horizon from 50°N, 8° up from 35°N, 43° up from the equator, 78° up from 35°S.

## Facts

- Type: Star
- Constellation: Vela
- Designations: Regor, γ Vel, HR 3207, HD 68273, HIP 39953
- Magnitude: 1.8
- Position: RA 8h 9.5m, Dec −47° 20′ (J2000)
- Spectral type: WC8+O7.5III-V
- Colour: blue-white (B−V -0.25)
- Distance: 1,100 light-years
- Discovered: Known since antiquity

Open AstroPilot to see when Gamma Velorum (Regor) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view. https://astropilot.space/object/gamma-velorum