1.8 MeV gamma-rays from the Vela region

COMPTEL imaging of the sky at 1.8 MeV resulted in the detection of prominen t emission from the Vela region. Early suggestions of the bulk of this exce ss being associated with the Vela supernova remnant itself were mainly base d on plausible candidate sources in this region. Meanwhile, all-sky analysi s of COMPTEL 1.8 MeV data demonstrated that massive stars and core collapse supernovae are the predominant source of Al-26 radioactivity in the Galaxy . With the improved database from over six years of observations, and in pa rticular more recent exposures of the Vela region, one can now better disti nguish between source hypotheses. We present the improved 1.8 MeV emission map of this region, and analyze the observed emission in terms of different models with localized and large-scale components. We discuss the implicati ons for nearby supernova remnants (Vela XYZ and the new ROSAT/COMPTEL SNR), the constraints on Al-26 yields for the Wolf Rayet star in gamma(2) Vel (t he nearest member of this class of stars), and for nearby associations of m assive stars.