It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.85.
[2] Based upon an annual parallax shift of 14.16 mas as seen from the Earth,[1] the system is located about 230 light years from the Sun.
[5] This object is an evolved K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K0 III.
With 1.9 times the mass of the Sun[2] it is a red clump star,[2] which indicates it is on the horizontal branch generating energy through helium fusion at its core.
It is radiating 67[5] times the luminosity of the Sun from its enlarged photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,737 K.[5] Rho Gruis has two visual companions: a magnitude 14.0 star at an angular separation of 19.3″ along a position angle (PA) of 302°, as of 2011, and a magnitude 10.28 star with a separation of 114.20″ and a PA of 336°, as of 1999.