Summary

DescriptionUsing sextant.gif	Animation of the use of a marine sextant to measure the altitude of the sun
Date	April 2007
Source	Own work
Author	Joaquim Alves Gaspar
Permission (Reusing this file)	I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5CC BY-SA 2.5 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 truetrue Category:CC-BY-SA-2.5#Using%20sextant.gif Category:Self-published work
Other versions	with captions in English with captions in Afrikaans
GIF development InfoField	This diagram was created with CorelDRAW. Category:PNG created with CorelDRAW#Using%20sextant.gif

Explanation of frames (also see Image:Marine sextant.svg)

1. - Point the sextant to the horizon in the direction of the Sun. The horizon is visible at left, through the glass, and also at right, reflected by the two mirrors. The index arm is at the zero position.
2. - Press the clamp to release the index bar.
3. - Rotate the index bar to bring the reflected image of the Sun to the horizon.
4. - The lower limb of the Sun is now almost touching the horizon. Release the clamp and adjust the sun's position with the micrometer.
5. - Swing the sextant to verify the sun's position (adjust if necessary).
6. - Read the altitude at the arc scale and micrometer drum (about 40º 15').