The traditional name Acubens (Açubens) is derived from the Arabic الزبانى al zubanāh, 'the claws'.

[14] Acubens is a fourth-magnitude star with an apparent magnitude of 4.20, making it barely visible to the naked eye under good lighting conditions.

The distance of Acubens calculated from the Gaia Data Release 2 parallax is roughly 50 parsecs from Earth, or approximately 164 light-years away.

In the year 1836, its position angle was observed at 325 degrees with a separation from the main star Acubens A of 11.3 arcseconds.

[15][16] From studying its light curve during occultation, it is thought that Acubens A may itself be a close binary, consisting of two stars with similar brightness and a separation of 0.1 arcsecond.