Sextans
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The constellation represents an astronomical sextant, an instrument commonly used by astronomers of the time.[1] Leo lies to the north of Sextans, Hydra to the southwest, and Crater to the southeast, making Sextans a constellation of moderate size.[2]
Key facts and history
He described this catastrophe in the preface to his Annus climactericus (1685).[3] John Flamsteed labeled 41 stars for the constellation.[4] The constellation commemorates the astronomical sextant that Hevelius lost when a fire destroyed his observatory on 26 September 1679.[3] In 1930, Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte established the official boundaries of Sextans, which form a square.[2]
Benjamin Apthorp Gould assigned Greek letters Alpha through Epsilon to the five brightest stars in Sextans, as recorded in his Uranometria Argentina.[4][5] 35 Sextantis comprises three stars: two evolved K-type giants, each with twice the Sun's mass, and a third star that forms a single-lined spectroscopic binary with one of the giants.[6]
What the cited sources add
The NOIRLab account states that Sextans does not contain any particularly bright stars, and its significance lies more in its role as a celestial reference point than in its individual stars.[1][7] According to NOIRLab, the constellation includes NGC 3115, the Spindle Galaxy.[1][7] The NOIRLab account notes that although Sextans is not one of the zodiac constellations, the planets and Moon occasionally cross a portion of it.[1][7]
References
- NOIRLab, "Constellation: Sextans", www.noirlab.edu. facts only, no text reused. noirlab.edu
- Wikipedia, "Sextans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Russell, "The new international symbols for the constellations", 1922, p. 469 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sextans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Clerke, "Hevelius, Johann", Cambridge University Press, 1911, p. 416–417 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sextans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagman, "Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others", The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2003, p. 290; Wagman, "Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others", The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2003, p. 290 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sextans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagman, "Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others", The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2003, p. 290; Ridpath, Ian, "Constellations: Lacerta–Vulpecula", Star Tales (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Sextans" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tokovinin, "Comparative statistics and origin of triple and quadruple stars", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, September 11, 2008, p. 925–938; Tokovinin, "Comparative statistics and origin of triple and quadruple stars", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, September 11, 2008, p. 925–938; ; ; Tokovinin, "New spectroscopic components in multiple systems. V.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, April 2007, p. 257–261 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Sextans", NOIRLab. facts only, no text reused. noirlab.edu
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sextans (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Sextans (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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