[14] Evolutionary models place it at the very end of its main sequence life with an age of about 900 million years.

[1][7] It has expanded somewhat to a size 4.4 that of the Sun and emits 44 times as much electromagnetic radiation from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 7,415 K. Sigma Octantis is a Delta Scuti variable, varying by about 0.03 magnitudes every 2.33 hours.

[17] Once Sigma Octantis' approximate position has been determined, either by the major stars in Octans or using the Southern Cross (Crux) method, it can be positively verified using an asterism: Sigma, Chi, Tau, and Upsilon Octantis are all stars of around magnitude 5.6, and form the distinctive shape of a trapezoid.

Sigma Octantis was used as a reference to measure the magnitudes of stars in the southern hemisphere for the 1908 Revised Harvard Photometry catalogue.

It was then noted that "Neither of these stars appears to vary perceptibly" but that, due to the procedures used "if they did, the variation would have no effect on the final measures.