Sextans

[ sek-stuhnz ]

noun

, genitive Sex·tan·tis [sek-, stan, -tis]

1. Astronomy. the Sextant, an equatorial constellation between Hydra and Leo.
2. (lowercase) a bronze coin of ancient Rome, the sixth part of an as, issued during the period of the Republic.

Sextans

/ ˈsɛkstənz /

noun

1. a faint constellation lying on the celestial equator close to Leo and Hydra

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sextans¹

< Latin sextāns; sextant

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sextans¹

New Latin: sextant

Example Sentences

In the Sextans constellation 4,500 light-years away, a dead, magnetic star rotates 592 times in a second, emanating electromagnetic beams like an oscillating lighthouse out into the universe.

From Salon

Researchers in Japan observed a distant source of light known as B14-65666, located in the constellation known as Sextans, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of telescopes in Chile.

From Fox News

The Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal was the 10th galaxy found to orbit the Milky Way.

From Scientific American

A dwarf spheroidal flagged in 1990 in the constellation Sextans was such a galactic underdog it took a computer to spot it.

From Scientific American

Without one, “there’s no way Sextans would have been found,” Mike Irwin, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge, has said.

From Scientific American