It has an apparent visual magnitude of +5.2,[5] which is bright enough to be faintly visible to the naked eye.

Based upon an annual stellar parallax shift of 6.56 milliarcseconds,[1] it is located about 500 light years from the Sun.

[5] It is thought to be on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), with shells of hydrogen and helium around a carbon-oxygen core.

The effective temperature of the photosphere is 3,433 K.[10] Omega Virginis is a semiregular variable with a brightness that varies over an amplitude of 0.28 with periods of 30 and 275 days.

[2] It was formally declared a variable star in 1972 following a 1969 study showing small-amplitude variations.