[13] The International Astronomical Union has formally adopted the Ankaa as the proper name for Alpha Phoenicis.

Consequently, α Phoenicis itself is known as 火鳥六 (Huǒ Niǎo liù, English: the Sixth Star of Firebird.

)[16] Alpha Phoenicis is a spectroscopic binary star system with components that orbit each other every 3,848.8 days (10.5 years).

[6] The combined stellar classification of the system is K0.5 IIIb,[3] which matches the spectrum of a normal luminosity giant star.

Based upon parallax measurements, this system is at a distance of about 85 light-years (26 parsecs) from the Earth.