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Sextans

The Sextant

GenitiveSextantis
AbbreviationSex
Constellation FamilyHercules
Celestial QuadrantsNQ2, SQ2
Right Ascension9h41 to 10h52
Declination+6.4° to -11.7°
Area (sq deg)314
Brightest StarAlpha Sextantis
Optimum VisibilityMarch
NotesDefined within a square boundary, Sextans falls directly southward of Regulus and the Sickle formation in Leo. This is an extremely faint constellation, and even its brightest star, Alpha Sextantis, has an apparent magnitude of just +4.48, which makes it nearly twenty times fainter than prominent Regulus to its north.
Map of Sextans Map of Sextans

Wedged between Leo and Hydra on the Celestial Equator is a constellation consisting of a just few faint stars: Sextans, the Sextant.

Sextans contain no significantly bright stars, but the three that make up the main triangular form of the constellation are visible in this image. The brightest, Alpha Sextantis, is northward and somewhat westward (right) of centre. The other two stars of the formation, Beta Sextantis and Gamma Sextantis, are also visible, but extremely faint. Beta lies to the east (left) of Alpha, while the even fainter Gamma Sextantis is only barely visible near the southern edge of the image. (The brightest star in this image is not part of Sextans at all - the orange fourth-magnitude star in the northwestern quadrant is Ukdah or Iota Hydrae, in the neighbouring constellation of Hydra.) Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas

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