# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CZAZtqSJWbr
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11733040-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/6f8b8e0445.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-01-21T20:55:01.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Set sail on a cosmic sailboat ⛵

In the constellation Vela, about 115 million light-years from Earth, lies this galaxy captured by NASAHubble. The outer edges of the galaxy almost resemble a ship’s sails blowing in a gentle breeze. 

The galaxy's appearance is just a splash of the nautical theme that carries throughout its constellation. Vela was originally part of a far larger constellation, Argo Navis, which is named after a fabled ship Argo from Greek mythology, but the constellation proved to be too large to study. Argo Navis was split into three chunks, each named after a part of the Argo ship: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the stern) and Vela (the sails). 

Credit: EuropeanSpaceAgency/Hubble & NASA, European Southern Observatory (ESO), R. J. Foley; Acknowledgment: R. Colombari

#NASA #Hubble #SpaceTelescope #Stars #Cosmic #Astronomy #SeasTheDay

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## Tags

nasa, hubble, seastheday, cosmic, spacetelescope, stars, astronomy

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