It is an orange K-type subgiant star of spectral type K1IV, meaning it has almost completely exhausted its hydrogen supply in its core.

Around 2.5 billion years old, it was formerly an A-type main sequence star.

[6] In March 2013, it was announced that resolved images of at least one dust disk surrounding Kappa Coronae Borealis were captured, making it the first subgiant to host such circumstellar belt.

[7] In October 2007, a giant planet was found by Johnson et al., who used the radial velocity method.

[2] This planet was assumed to be outside the habitable zone on the assumption that the star is K1IVa.