It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.14,[2] making it visible to the naked eye and placing it among the brighter members of this constellation.

Consequently, the Chinese name for ι Ursae Majoris itself is 上台一 (Shàng Tái yī, English: Star of First Upper Step).

[18] The star was also dubbed Dnoces ('Second,' backwards) after Edward H. White II, an Apollo 1 astronaut.

This system appears to be dynamically unstable with a high likelihood and may become disrupted on a time scale on the order of 105 years.

[4] These two red dwarfs, designated Iota Ursae Majoris B and C respectively, orbit around each other with a period of 39.7 years, and are separated by roughly 0.7 arcseconds, or at least 10 AU.