It was once considered the rear star in the tail of the constellation of the (Southern) Fish, Piscis Austrinus: it, with Alpha, Delta, Theta, Iota, and Lambda Gruis, belonged to Piscis Austrinus in medieval Arabic astronomy.

[17] Consequently, Beta Gruis itself is known as 鶴二 (Hè èr, English: Second Star of the Crane).

[19] Beta Gruis is a red giant star[3] on the asymptotic giant branch[4] with an estimated mass of about 2.4 times that of the Sun[20] and a surface temperature of approximately 3,500 K, just over half the surface temperature of the Sun.

[21] Alan William James Cousins announced that Beta Gruis is a variable star in 1952.

It varies between intervals when it displays regular changes with a 37-day periodicity and times when it undergoes slow irregular variability.