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Sextans
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Latin:
“Sextant”
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Sextans

astronomy
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Sextans, constellation at about 10 hours right ascension and on the celestial equator in declination. It is a faint constellation; the brightest star is Alpha Sextantis, with a magnitude of 4.5. Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius invented this constellation in 1687; it commemorates the sextant that Hevelius lost in a fire that destroyed his house in 1679.

Erik Gregersen
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