Name Sextans
Gender Masculine & Feminine
Usage Astronomy
Pronounced Pron. SEHK-stənz
Other Forms FormsSextantis
Edit Status Status
Meaning & History
Sextans is one of the constellations introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius. It represents the astronomical sextant. Hevelius named the constellation after the sextant he used to measure star positions. The constellation’s original name was Sextans Uraniae, but it was later shortened to simply Sextant.