It is visible to the naked eye as a dim, white-hued point of light with an apparent visual magnitude of +5.00.

[2] parallax measurements provide a distance estimate of about 154 light years from the Sun, and it is drifting further away with a mean radial velocity of +32.5 km/s.

[4] It is a member of the 30 million year old Tucana-Horologium association of co-moving stars.

[6][2] The radial velocity for Eta Tucanae displays strong oscillations, suggesting this is a spectroscopic binary system.

[2] It is spinning rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of 190 km/s,[6] giving it an equatorial bulge that is 15% larger than the polar radius.