Sextants to Degrees (sext to °)

1 sextant equals 60 degrees exactly.

How to convert sextants to degrees

To convert sextants to degrees, multiply the number of sextants by 60. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply degrees by 0.01666666667 (rounded).

degrees = sextants × 60

Example: 10 sextants = 600 degrees.

About these units

Sextant (sext)

General & non-SICurrent unit

One sixth of a full turn (60 degrees), named after the navigation instrument whose arc spans a sixth of a circle.

The name sextant comes from the Latin for one sixth, and the instrument's frame is a sector of roughly 60 degrees, a sixth of a circle. Double reflection lets its scale read up to 120 degrees, enough for lunar distance measurements, which can exceed 90 degrees. John Hadley and Thomas Godfrey implemented the principle around 1731, and Isaac Newton's unpublished writings contain it as well. Navigators mainly use the sextant to measure the height of the Sun or a star above the horizon, from which latitude can be estimated.

It needs no electricity or satellite signal, so it still serves as a backup. The best accuracy possible in celestial navigation is about 0.1 nautical mile, and a highly skilled navigator can reach roughly 0.25. Buzz Aldrin used one on Gemini XII in 1966, and Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho adapted it for aviation in 1922. As a unit of angle, a sextant is simply 60 degrees: 1/6 of a turn, or π/3 radian.

1 sextant = 0.1666666667 turns (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Sextant; Wikipedia: Octant (instrument)

Degree (°)

General & non-SICurrent unit

One 360th of a full turn. The everyday unit of angle, inherited from the ancient Babylonians' base-60 counting.

Dividing the circle into 360 parts traces back to the astronomers of ancient Babylon, who counted in base 60. Why 360 in particular is still debated. One explanation points to Persian and Babylonian calendars, which used a year of about 360 days, so the Sun seemed to advance roughly one degree each day. Another says the Babylonians started from the angle of an equilateral triangle and split it into 60 pieces, and a third credits early chord-based trigonometry, where a chord equal to the radius made a natural base. Greek astronomers such as Aristarchus and Hipparchus were among the first to use Babylonian astronomical knowledge systematically.

The number also divides well. 360 has 24 divisors and splits evenly by every whole number from 1 to 10 except 7, which suits a world cut into 24 time zones of 15 degrees of longitude each. Each degree breaks into 60 arcminutes, and each of those into 60 arcseconds. The SI Brochure lists the degree among the widely used non-SI units, equal to π/180 radian, about 0.01745. For scale, the Moon and the Sun each look about half a degree wide, and a little finger held at arm's length covers roughly one degree of sky.

1 degree = 0.002777777778 turns (approximately).

Sources: BIPM SI Brochure, 9th edition (2019); Wikipedia: Degree (angle); Wikipedia: Angular diameter

Related conversions

See all angle units.