[1] This is an aging K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K4 III.
As a consequence of exhausting the hydrogen at its core, the star has expanded to 29 times the Sun's radius.
[5] It is radiating 250 times the luminosity of the Sun from its swollen photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,253 K.[6] 11 Ursae Minoris is sometimes named Pherkard or Pherkad Minor, the later name to distinguish it from Pherkad (Major) which is γ Ursae Minoris.
[4] 11 Ursae Minoris b was discovered during a radial velocity survey of 62 K type Red giant stars using the 2m Alfred Jensch telescope of the Thuringian State Observatory in Germany.
[4] A newer mass measurement of the host star implies a larger planetary mass of 14.15±1.23 MJ, which would make 11 Ursae Minoris b a low-mass brown dwarf.