Sextans is a small equatorial constellation that Johannes Hevelius first described in 1687. Its name is derived from the Latin for the astronomy sextant, a tool Hevelius frequently used in his studies.
As a constellation, Sextans occupies a sparse, relatively dark area of the sky. Only Sextantis, at 4.49 magnitude, is above the fifth magnitude in this constellation. A few double stars may be found in this constellation, including, 35, and 40 Sextantis. Several prominent variable stars can be found, including, 25, 23 Sextantis, and LHS 292. The sole notable deep-sky object is the edge-on lenticular galaxy NGC 3115. Additionally, because of its proximity to the ecliptic, it occasionally experiences transits by the Moon and a few planets. The constellation is the site of the field investigated by the Hubble Space Telescope's COSMOS project. |
At magnitude 6.6 and 4.3 million light-years away from Earth, Sextans B is a relatively bright dwarf irregular galaxy. It is one of the galaxies in the Local Group. (Levy 2005)
The most distant galaxy cluster known as of 2016 is CL J1001+0220, which is 11.1 billion light-years away from Earth and has a redshift of z=2.506. (Wang et al., 2016) Astronomers discovered population III stars in the Cosmos Redshift 7 galaxy (at z = 6.60) in Sextans, and they reported their discovery in June 2015. These stars were probably present in the early cosmos (i.e., at high redshift), and they may have begun to produce chemical elements heavier than hydrogen that was later required for the formation of planets and life. (Sobral et al., 2015) |
Deep-sky Objects
Main stars - 3
Bayer stars - 28
Stars with planets - 5
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 5
Messier objects - 0
Meteor showers
Bordering
constellations
- NGC 3115 – Lenticular Galaxy
- NGC 3166 – Spiral Galaxy
- NGC 3169 – Spiral Galaxy
Main stars - 3
Bayer stars - 28
Stars with planets - 5
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 5
Messier objects - 0
Meteor showers
- Sextantids
Bordering
constellations
- Leo
- Hydra
- Crater