Regor
Authors: Eric Mamajek, Susanne M Hoffmann, Youla Azkarrula
Regor was a name from the space age attached to the bright star Gamma Velorum (gam02 Vel).
Etymology and History
Regor was one of three mysterious new names that started appearing around 1967 on American navigational star charts early in the history of the NASA Apollo crewed lunar missions.
Extensive notes exploring the origins of the names and the parties involved are documented in the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal: Post-Landing Activities site (Eric M. Jones, 1996, last revised 2026) and a 2016 memo written by Apollo 15 Commander David R. Scott to Eric M. Jones for the Lunar Surface Journals. Astronaut David R. Scott states:
"Unfortunately, as a result of these incorrect entries in the Journal, the origin of Navi, Dnoces, and Regor as a joke has been widely distributed in all forms of information on Apollo. The origin of these names was not a joke; the origin was intended to honor and memorialize three wonderful men who worked so hard to make Apollo a success and eventually gave all they had. Dr. Cleminshaw himself recognized this as an honor in his 1977 book, The Beginners Guide to the Skies:
“Navi (Gamma Cassiopeiae) is “Ivan” spelled backwards and was named in honor of Virgil Ivan Grissom, one of the three astronauts killed in the Apollo fire.” (Note: “in honor of…Grissom”, not “by…..Grissom”). (Similar entries are included for Ed White and Roger Chaffee.)"
Astronaut David Scott constrains the timing of the naming to March-April 1967, shortly after the January 1967 Apollo 1 fire. Scott's notebook from mission training in October 1966 list three bright navigational stars (gamma Cassiopeiae, iota Ursa Majoris, gamma Velorum) that were the only ones lacking common names.
IAU Working Group Star Names
Weblinks
- Website of the IAU WGSN: https://exopla.net/
- Apollo 11 Flown Star Charts (scans courtesy of Larry McGlyn
- The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and Apollo Flight Journal (NASA), links to Eric M. Jones' Apollo documentation, Apollo Flight Journals (Apollo 7-17), Apollo Lunar Surface Journals (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17), Navigation Stars used in the AOT (Alignment Optical Telescope)
- REGOR (Gamma-2 Velorum), STARS, Jim Kaler
- SIMBAD page on Regor / gam02 Vel , CDS
- Regor (Gamma Velorum) - entry in "The Beginner's Guide to the Skies: A Month-by-month Handbook for Stargazers and Planet Watchers" by Clarence Higbee Cleminshaw, 1977, Crowell
