An asterism in Cygnus, formed from 7 stars. Not one of the 88 constellations.
Cygnus the swan flying down the Milky Way, read the other way up as a cross. Deneb marks the tail, Albireo the head — and Albireo in binoculars is a gold and blue pair worth the detour.
The Northern Cross is centred near right ascension 20.2 hours, declination +38°. It sits well north on the sky and is comfortably placed for northern hemisphere observers.
The International Astronomical Union recognises 88 constellations, and they divide the whole sky between them like countries on a map. The Northern Cross is not one of them — it is a pattern picked out of Cygnus. That makes it an asterism: a shape people recognise and name, with no official standing whatsoever.
The distinction matters less than it sounds. Asterisms are usually easier to find than the constellations containing them, which is exactly why they survive.
SkyRef can draw the Northern Cross in its real position for wherever you are — switch on the asterism layer and it appears dashed across the constellations it runs through.