SEXTANT

Sextant

A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the object's altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight and it is an essential part of celestial navigation. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. Common uses of the sextant include sighting the sun at solar noon and sighting Polaris at night, to find one's latitude. Sighting the height of a ...

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sextant

Noun

  1. A navigational device for deriving angular distances between objects so as to determine latitude and longitude.
  2. One sixth of a circle or disc; a sector with an angle of 60°.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: sextant
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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