Sextans

The Sextant

A very faint spring constellation south of Leo, named for a navigation instrument.

Chart drawn as the sky looks when you face the constellation: north is up and east is to the left. Dot size shows brightness, and color hints at temperature. The connecting lines are one common stick figure; other traditions draw them differently.

Best season: Spring
Best months: February through May, in the south on late winter and spring evenings
Visibility: Visible from everywhere in the United States, but very faint
Abbreviation: Sex

How to find it

Look south of Leo, between Regulus and Alphard in Hydra, for a very faint group of stars.

Brightest stars

Alpha Sextantis (a faint star)

What to look for

How empty the region looks. Sextans is a good test of sky darkness.

Binocular and telescope targets

Spindle Galaxy (NGC 3115): an edge-on galaxy, visible in a small telescope

Using it to find other things

Sextans lies south of Leo, between Regulus and Alphard.

About this constellation

Sextans is one of the faintest constellations. Johannes Hevelius named it in the 1600s after the sextant he used to measure star positions.

It is mostly a place to look for the Spindle Galaxy in a telescope, or to check how dark your sky really is.

Related guides

Visibility depends on your latitude, the date, and the time of night. The months above assume a typical evening from the contiguous United States, so use a planetarium app to confirm what is up tonight. Never look at the Sun through binoculars or a telescope without a proper solar filter.

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