This star has an apparent visual magnitude of +3.45,[2] making it one of the brighter members of the constellation.

The distance to this star has been measured directly using the parallax technique, which yields a value of roughly 138 light-years (42 parsecs) with a 4% margin of error.

The stellar classification of Lambda Ursae Majoris is A2 IV,[3] with the luminosity class of 'IV' indicating that, after 410 million years[13] on the main sequence, this star is in the process of evolving into a giant star as the supply of hydrogen at its core becomes exhausted.

In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[17] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars.

Consequently, the Chinese name for Lambda Ursae Majoris itself is 中台一 (Zhōng Tái yī, English: Star of First Middle Step).