This is a very bright star that bears the Arabic name of 'Sadr', which lies at the center of the Northern Cross in the constelleation Cygnus the Swan. The name, however, refers to the great ancient celestial bird, and comes from an Arabic phrase that means "the hen's breast." :
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070104.html
http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sadr.html
This is another fine example of the legacy to the pantheon of world knowledge from the era in Muslim civilization known as Islam's golden age. This star is known as a supergiant, which means that it has almost come to the end of its lifecycle; it may end up as a supernova which explodes and spreads all its contents, such as basic elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, etc, made by nuclear fusion in its core, all accross the cosmos. It is 7.5 thousand trillion kilometers away from planet earth. Other stars such as Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, Mintaka, Al-Deberan and Betelgeuse are discussed in blogpost 83 in the December 2006 archive.
easynash
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation:Aga Khan 4.
The God of the Quran is the One whose Ayats(Signs) are the Universe in which we live, move and have our being:Aga Khan 3
