The star and rest of southern Carina never sets on places from about 34° S southwards including Cape Town; its northernmost viewpoints are unobstructed southern horizons near to the 30th parallel north, once a day.

[17] Consequently, Iota Carinae itself is known as 海石二 (Hǎi Shí èr, English: the Second Star of Sea Rock).

It has a stellar classification of A7 Ib,[3] with the luminosity class of 'Ib' indicating it has reached the stage of its evolution where it has expanded to become a lower-luminosity supergiant.

It is just entering the Hertzsprung gap of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, and is evolving towards a red supergiant phase.

[8] However, this luminosity appears to vary, causing the star's apparent magnitude to range between 2.23–2.28.