Sadr is the third brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and the center star of the Northern Cross. Sadr lies at the northern end of the Great Rift with a spectacular portion of the Milky Way as a backdrop. Its name comes from an Arabic phrase meaning "the hen's breast."

 

Unlike most supergiants, which are either fairly hot or quite cool and reddish, Sadr is yellow-white and in the mid-temperature range. It has left the main sequence and is now near a region of temperature and luminosity in which stars become unstable and pulsate.

 

visual magnitude	2.23
absolute magnitude	-6.12
spectral type	F8Ib
surface temperature	6,500 K
luminosity	65,000 Lsun
mass	12 Msun
distance	1,520 light-years
position	RA 20h 22m 13.7s, Dec +40° 15' 24"