|
Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Sextans
Origin:
Sextans is a "modern" constellation which was proposed by Polish
astronomer Johannes Hevelius in
1687 and drawn in his 1690 atlas, Prodromus Astronomiae.
Originally named Sextans Uraniae -- the Sextant of Urania (the Muse of
astronomy) -- its name was later shortened to simply Sextans.
Sextans commemorates the astronomical tool most used by Hevelius in his
studies of the sky.
Information:
Sextans is, at best, a difficult constellation to find, having only one
star brighter than magnitude 5 (Alpha-Sextantis) and even that one is a
faint magnitude 4.5. Alpha-Sextantis and the general region of the
sky containing Sextans can be found by dropping down about one hand's
width from Regulus (Alpha-Leonis) and scanning for
the brightest dim-star in a field of faint stars. Care must be taken
to not to confuse the star with the nearby Alphard (the brightest star in Hydra). Sextans is highest in the northern
spring sky at 9 pm around May 1. Sextans, along with Leo and Leo Minor, lies on
the western edge of the Coma-Virgo cluster of galaxies but contains only
one truly interesting galaxy for the amateur astronomer (the Spindle
Galaxy, NGC 3115). |
