According to the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, its apparent visual magnitude of 2.3[2] makes it readily visible to the naked eye even from highly light-polluted locales.

Based upon parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission,[11] the star is around 460 light-years (140 parsecs) from the solar system.

In 1956 it was identified as a Beta Cephei variable by Bernard Pagel and colleagues,[14] which means it undergoes periodic changes in luminosity because of pulsations in the atmosphere.

[16] Consequently, the Chinese name for α Lupi itself is 騎官十 (Qí Guān shí, English: the Tenth Star of Imperial Guards.).

[18] In Chinese astronomy, 南門 is located in Horn mansion and consisted of α and ε Centauri.