It has an apparent visual magnitude of +5.02,[2] which indicates the star is faintly visible to the naked eye.

Based upon an annual parallax shift of 3.35 mas as seen from Earth,[1] it is located roughly 970 light years distant from the Sun.

At that distance, the visual magnitude of the star is diminished by an extinction of 0.13 due to interstellar dust.

[3] The 'Ba0.4' suffix notation indicates this is a barium star,[11] which means that the stellar atmosphere has been enhanced by s-process elements most likely provided by what is now an orbiting white dwarf companion.

It is radiating 2,054[6] times the Sun's luminosity from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of about 3,917 K.[7] Ptolemy considered Nu1 Boötis to be shared by Hercules, and Bayer assigned it a designation in both constellations: Nu1 Boötis (ν1 Boo) and Psi1 Herculis (ψ1 Her).