SEXTANS
The Sextant
(Sxt)


Generalities: it is a constellation mastering the celestial equator, very colorless and deprived of bright stars. The Sextant transits at midnight between February and March.

Origins and mythology: this constellation was introduced by  Hevelius at the end of the seventeenth century to honour the tool thanks to which he had been able to notice the positions of the stars in the previous years, and that had been destroyed in a fire. According to a tradition it represents Urania , the muse of  astronomy.

Stars: the brightest star of the Sextant has magnitude 4.49 and is white-blue.

Other objects: in the Sextant there are some galaxies of middle-weak brightness.
 


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