In the past, it had been misidentified as a suspected nebula, and given the number NGC 771.

[9] The star is visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +3.95.

[2] Based upon an annual parallax shift of 20.76 mas, it is located 157 light years away.

It is moving closer, having a heliocentric radial velocity of −18 km/s,[4] and will approach to within 82 ly in 1.879 million years.

[6] It is radiating 64 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of around 9,376 K.[3] The star was the brightest star in the occasionally used 1775 to 19th century constellation Custos Messium, typically drawn as a depiction of Charles Messier standing on top of the giraffe (Camelopardus), between Cepheus and Cassiopeia.