[2] The ancient Roman astronomer Ptolemy included it in the constellation Corona Australis, but it was moved to Telescopium when that constellation was created by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century.

[9] Parallax measurements put it at a distance of 278 light-years (85 parsecs) from Earth.

At that range, the visual magnitude of the star is diminished by an extinction of 0.22 due to interstellar dust.

Alpha Telescopii is a bright star that is radiating nearly 800 times the Sun's luminosity.

It has a longitudinal magnetic field with a mean strength of –233 ± 43 G.[4] A projected stellar rotation velocity of about 14 km s−1 is considered low for a star of this type,[4] which may indicate it is being viewed from nearly pole-on.