[12] This star has an apparent visual magnitude of +3.3,[6] making it readily visible to the naked eye.

Based upon parallax measurements from the Hipparcos mission, it is roughly 436 light-years (134 parsecs) from Earth.

The brightest component is a spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 56.71 days and an eccentricity of 0.17.

[6] The primary component of this system is a variable star of the Beta Cephei type with a period of just 3h 22m.

Although only 21 million years old,[3] it has begun to evolve away from the main sequence and has become a subgiant star with a stellar classification of B2 IV.