Equatorial sextant
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Burt_equatorial_sexton_1915.jpg/220px-Burt_equatorial_sexton_1915.jpg)
An equatorial sextant is a modified version of a
Greenwich Observatory in 1676. Seven feet across and possessing an iron frame,[1] it was mounted at an angle that aligned with the celestial equator, so that as it rotated, it tracked the motion of objects across the night sky.[2] Flamsteed used this instrument to measure angles of right ascension from 1676 through 1689[3] or 1690.[4]
Another device known by that name was patented by the American inventor William Austin Burt in 1856.[5] Burt's equatorial sextant included several elaborations on the basic sextant design, which enabled its user to determine navigational information without a supplemental chart or the need for calculation.[6]
References
- Bibcode:1960Obs....80...13L.
- ISSN 0003-3790.
- ^ "Telescope: Flamsteed's 7-foot Equatorial Sextant (1676)". www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
- ISSN 0003-3790.
- ^ "Equatorial Sextant". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
- ISBN 978-1-61069-094-2.