α Sgr. Magnitude 3.97, white. Visible to the naked eye from a reasonably dark site.
Astronomers call it α Sgr — the Bayer designation, which reads as a Greek letter ranking its brightness within its constellation. Rukbat is the name people actually use.
Rukbat shines at magnitude 3.97, making it visible to the naked eye from a reasonably dark site. Its B−V colour index of -0.10 makes it white to the eye, corresponding to a surface temperature of around 8,000 K.
It sits at right ascension 19.40 hours and declination -40.6°. It lies south of the celestial equator and sits low for northern observers, better the further south you go.
SkyRef shows exactly where Rukbat is from your location right now — altitude, compass direction, and rise and set times.