Constellation tour in Spring
Sextans (The Sextant)


Click on image to enlarge

Date & Time: Feb 23 2020, from 23:56 to 24:33 JST(+0900)
Composed 8 shots with 5 minutes exposed
Optical: AF zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm (f=50mm, stop: F3.5)
with IDAS LPS-P2-FF Light-pollution suppression
& Kenko PRO Softon[A] filters
Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI EM-200 Equatorial
Digital Camera: Canon EOS 600D (Remodeled)
Location: Ooizumi, Hokuto city, Yamanashi pref.

Camera Settings: Recording Format...14bit CCD-RAW, converted to 16bit TIFF(5184×3456)
Sensitivity...ISO800




Astroarts StellaNavigator
A minor constellation of Sextans is positioned just south of Leo. The constellation had been established by Hevelius in 17th century, formed from fine stars with 4th or 5th magnitude. We can hardly trace the figure of constellation from such an incomprehensible asterism. The "Sextant" is a kind of old-fashioned surveying instrument used in sailing. And there is another constellation of same kind "Octans", but it cannot be appreciated at the northern hemisphere because the constellation is circumvolving around the celestial South Pole.
The sextant has a celestial territory of a true square and the celestial equator is crossing through the constellation. Some galaxies are contained, among them, NGC3115 is one of the brightest galaxies scattered in this field, it has a nickname of "Spindle Galaxy", can be easily enjoyed only with small scopes.



Guide for Deep Sky Objects

NGC3044 ...Edge-on galaxy in 4.5deg. NW of alpha Sex. 50.8 million ly. away
Spindle Galaxy NGC3115 ...Bright edge-on galaxy in southern region, 21.8 million ly. away
NGC3166, NGC3169 ...A pair of small galaxies in northern region
UGCA205 (Sextans A) ...A dwarf galaxy belonging to the Local Group positioned at center, 4.7 million ly away




Coma Berenices

Crux


Copyright(c) 2020 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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