With a declination greater than 70 degrees south of the celestial equator, it is the most southerly of the bright stars of Carina (third-magnitude or brighter), and it is part of a southern asterism known as the Diamond Cross.

This star has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.3 and is located at a distance of about 342 light-years (105 parsecs) from Earth.

Omega Carinae has a stellar classification of B8 IIIe,[3] which places it in the category of Be stars, that display emission lines of hydrogen their spectrum.

The luminosity class of III indicates it has evolved into a giant star, having exhausted the hydrogen at its core and left the main sequence.

[11] Consequently, ω Carinae itself is known as 南船四 (Nán Chuán sì, English: the Fourth Star of Southern Boat.