The brighter yellow star, itself a very close trinary system, makes a striking colour contrast with its fainter blue companion.

Christian Ludwig Ideler traced it to the heading for the constellation we call Cygnus in Ptolemy's star catalog, in the translation of the Almagest by Gerard of Cremona: "Stellatio Eurisim: et est volans; et jam vocatur gallina.

[26] In any case, Ideler proposed that (somehow) the phrase "ab ireo" was applied to the star at the head of the bird, and this became "Albireo" when an "l" was mistakenly inserted as though it was an Arabic name.

[24] Medieval Arabic-speaking astronomers called Beta Cygni minqār al-dajājah (English: the hen's beak).

[34] Separated by 35 seconds of arc,[13] the two components provide one of the best contrasting double stars in the sky due to their different colors.

[34] Some experts, however, support the optical double argument, based on observations that suggest different proper motions for the components, which implies that they are unrelated.

[20] The spectrum of Beta Cygni A was found to be composite when it was observed as part of the Henry Draper Memorial project in the late 19th century, leading to the supposition that it was itself double.

[21] The confirmed close pair are referred to as Aa and Ac in modern papers, with Ab being the unconfirmed third component.

[16] The diameter of the primary K-type giant star has been measured using interferometry from the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer.

[25] Its surface temperature has been spectroscopically estimated to be about 13,200 K.[17] β Cygni B has been reported to be a very close double,[46] but the observations appear to have been incorrect.

[20] Analysis of Gaia Data Release 2 astrometry suggests that four fainter stars may form a moving group along with the brighter visible components.