The distance to this star has been determined directly using parallax measurements, yielding a value of around 460–430 light-years (140–130 parsecs) from the Sun.

[11] While some published reports incorrectly claim that this star was designated by NASA as Navi ('Ivan', backwards), in honor of astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom, one of the three astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 accident,[16] the actual star so designated is Gamma Cassiopeiae in the center of the constellation.

[19] Consequently, the Chinese name for Epsilon Cassiopeiae itself is 閣道二 (Gé Dào èr, English: the Second Star of Flying Corridor.

)[20] Epsilon Cassiopeiae has a stellar classification of B3 V, indicating that it is a main sequence star fusing hydrogen in its core.

It is radiating 3,000 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 15,174 K (14,901 °C; 26,854 °F),[8] giving it the blue-white hue of a B-type star.