This is an F-type main-sequence star of stellar classification F5 V with an apparent magnitude of +4.95, making it faintly visible to the naked eye.

[10] Based upon an annual parallax shift of 33.4 mas as seen from the Earth, it is located 98 light years from the Sun.

The star is moving closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −11 km/s,[5] and is traversing the sky with a relatively high proper motion of 0.271 arc seconds per year.

[11] Eta Ursae Minoris is about one billion years old and has an estimated 1.35 times the mass of the Sun.

[6] Eta Ursae Minoris may form a wide binary system with a magnitude 15.3 companion star, located at an angular separation of 228.5 arc seconds.