Stellar formation activity is confirmed by the discovery of several associations of T Tauri stars, particularly in the VMR D cloud,[5] as well as by the presence of several open clusters heavily obscured and deeply immersed in the gas observable at infrared wavelengths.

[6] The brightest and warmest stars of the Vela R2 association illuminate some filaments of gas that shine with a bluish light, typical of reflection nebulae.

Among these is the well-known NGC 2626 nebulae which belongs to the VMR D cloud and hosts some stars presenting Hα emission and the famous Herbig-Haro object HH 132.

The main sequence of nebulae that compose it is located a few degrees northwest of the star Lambda Velorum, while some dark ramifications also extend south of it, reaching the central areas of the constellation.

The only cloud easily identifiable is NGC 2626, a reflection nebula located in the westernmost region of the complex; it can be detected with medium-high powered instruments equipped with filters.

The Milky Way in the direction of the Vela Molecular Ridge presents an overlap of objects and structures, all roughly aligned with the galactic plane; situations of this kind may tend to hinder the observation of large nebulae regions, due to the disturbance by the strong background radiation.

[12] Cr 121 is linked to a giant expanding superbubble, called GSH 238+00+09, probably generated by the explosion of at least thirty supernova located right inside of this association; the powerful shockwave generated would affect some of the surrounding regions located within a radius of 500 parsecs from it, such as the Gum Nebula, the giant molecular cloud Monoceros R2 and the Orion complex.

At 1500 parsecs from the Sun at the outer edge of the Orion Arm, the large region Sh2-310 can be found in which it was formed the massive open cluster NGC 2362.

[24] The clouds in the Vela Molecular Ridge are the locations where an intense star formation process takes place as evidenced by the presence of numberus IRAS sources, whose spectral characteristics are similar to that of young stellar objects, as well as by the presence of some young clusters still deeply wrapped by gas; the highest concentration of these sources is located in the C cloud.

[25] It is believed that these infrared sources, especially distributed within the densest small molecular clouds in the four major complexes, are particularly associated with Class I protostars, mostly T Tauri stars.

The most conspicuous bright cloud belonging to VMR A is listed as RCW 41 which has an irregular appearance and contains within it the young cluster [DBS2003] 36,[16] composed of 62 massive stars of spectral type B visible in the infrared.

[18] The B cloud of the Vela Molecular Ridge is a structure independent of the others, located at about 2000 parsecs in a remote and peripheral region of the Orion Arm.

Around the cloud is a large ring-like structure of dust where some denser and brighter clusters exist, in which there is an ongoing process of gravitational collapse which will lead to the generation of new stars.

[32] The cloud is also home to a young cluster deeply immersed in the gas, cataloged with the number 251 in a catalog published in 2003 by Bica et al.[33] The C cloud of the Vela Molecular Ridge is observed north of the easternmost part of the Gum Nebula, about 1000 parsecs away in the direction of the Gum 17 (RCW 33) nebula, which, however, might not be connected to the region of the Vela Molecular Ridge.

[36] [5][24] The Vela C molecular cloud, observed using Herschel, revealed that dense cores and filamentary structures constitute a significant portion (40%) of its total mass.