Sextans, The Sextant, is one of those obscure constellations invented by Hevelius in the late seventeenth century. The instrument was used at that time to find star positions. Sextans has only two objects of much interest -- a multiple binary system and a spiral galaxy. A prerequisite study would be Hydra.
Alpha Sextantis is only a 4.5 visual magnitude star, but even so it's the brightest star in this constellation. The star is twelve degrees due south of Regulus. Put Regulus at the top of your glasses and drop south one FOV. Now move south just a bit more and alpha Sextantis will move into your field of view. Place this star at the northwestern edge of your glasses and you'll see three of the constellations stars: alpha, beta, and delta. The objects of interest in Sextans are found to the south: gamma Sex along with NGC 3115.
Gamma Sextantis is a triple system, a close companion ‘B’ with an orbit of 77.55 years and a much fainter 12th mag companion ‘C’ at 36" and PA 325. In 2000 ‘B’ will be at a position angle of 61º and a separation of 0.61". Gamma Sextantis is most easily found due east seven degrees from alpha Hydrae. If you haven't studied Hydra, then you should be able to find alpha Hydra two full FOVs to the southwest of alpha Sextantis. Once you find Alpha Hydra move east one complete FOV. In the same field is the galaxy NGC 3115, seen edge-on. It should be near the centre of your field of view. It takes a medium sized telescope to begin to see its elongated shape. The galaxy is 14 million light years away.
