Sextant

Release date	5 May 2004 (Update)
Members?	Yes
Quest item?	No
Tradeable?	No
Equipable?	No
Stackable?	No
High Alch	0 coins
Low Alch	0 coins
Value	50 coins
Destroy	Drop
Store price	Not sold
Examine	Used by navigators to find their position in RuneScape.
Weight	0.2 kg

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A Sextant is an essential item for solving co-ordinate clues whilst on treasure trails. A sextant can be obtained by first talking to the Observatory Professor (who may be at the Observatory or the nearby Observatory reception building to the north-east, depending upon whether the player has completed the Observatory Quest), then, with a co-ordinate clue(note: it HAS to be a co-ordinate clue) in inventory, speaking to Murphy in Port Khazard. Murphy is found on the dock near the trawler for the Fishing Trawler. Brother Kojo in the Clock Tower can then give the player a watch. With a sextant, watch, chart and the coordinate clue scroll in their inventory, the player may dig up a casket. If any of the items are missing, the player will not be able to dig up the casket at the proper spot.

After first obtaining a sextant from Murphy, the player may thereafter make sextants. A sextant can be made by having one steel bar in inventory and clicking on a Crafting table 4 at the Workshop of a player's house.

Operating the sextant is a fairly simple task. The idea is to put the horizon and the sun in the middle of the screen.

First use the vertical 'arrow buttons' on the right to put the horizon in the centre of the viewer on the right hand side. Then use the horizontal arrow buttons to move the sun onto the horizon in the middle of the screen. Clicking 'get location' will give the co-ordinates of the player's position. This consists of two numbers; the first indicates how far the player is North or South of the Observatory, in degrees and minutes, and the second how far East or West. Note that one degree is 60 minutes, and each game square is approximately 1.875 minutes.

Sextants will often need to be used quickly in wilderness locations, as monster attacks can interrupt plotting.

Trivia

• Interestingly enough, even though the item appears to be made of wood and brass, a steel bar is the only item used in its construction
• You can obtain multiple sextants by dropping your sextant and speaking to Murphy. He will give you another sextant and you can then pick up the one that you dropped. This makes it much more convenient if you die while you have the sextant because you won't have to go back to Murphy to obtain another.

Wikipedia has an article about:

Sextant

• If you dig at the spot with Meerkats familiars, you do not require the chart, sextant, or watch, just the clue scroll in your inventory.
• If you used the sextant in your player-owned-house, you would get a coordinate that is far to the south-east of the mainland. This no longer works.