It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.954, making it the second brightest star in that faint constellation.

[8] Beta Pyxidis has an unusually high rate of spin for an evolved star of this type, showing a projected rotational velocity of 11.8 km/s.

[6] In 2010, the star was among a survey of massive, lower effective temperature supergiants in an attempt to detect a magnetic field.

[10] There is a magnitude 12.5 optical companion, located at an angular separation of 12.7 arcseconds and a position angle of 118° as of the year 1943.

Consequently, β Pyxidis itself is known as 天狗四 (Tiān Gǒu sì, English: the Fourth Star of Celestial Dog.