The apparent visual magnitude of this star is 2.7,[2] which is readily visible to the naked eye even from urban skies.

The distance to this star can be estimated using parallax measurements, yielding a value of 83.4 light-years (25.6 parsecs) from the Sun.

[12] USS Cheleb (AK-138) was a United States Navy Crater class cargo ship named after the star.

Its outer envelope is relatively cool with an effective temperature of 4,559 K,[6] giving it the orange hue typical of K-type stars.

[15] Like some other K-type giants, β Ophiuchi has been found to vary very slightly (0.02 magnitudes) in brightness.