Origin
It was long thought that Zeta Puppis was associated with the Vela star-forming region about 1400 light years distant. However the parallax obtained in 2008 from the revision of Hipparcos data (see above) shows that the star is closer. The new distance combined with the known radial velocity show that it encountered the Trumpler 10 OB association around 2 million years ago. This still leaves questions since Trumpler 10 has a well established age in excess of 30 million years while Zeta Puppis is no more than a tenth that age. Others theories include the idea that Zeta Puppis was the companion of the star that went supernova a produced the Gum Nebula. There is evidence of an ionization front (bow shock) ahead of Naos as is common with high mass runaway stars. It also shows another common feature of runaways, an anomalously high rotational velocity of 220 km/s at the equatoras well as an apparent enrichment in helium and nitrogen on the surface. Its estimated age is about 4 million years.
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