[13] The star has a white hue and is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.28.

It is located at a distance of approximately 369 light-years from the Sun based on parallax,[1] but is drifting further closer with a radial velocity of about –13 km/s.

[6] The stellar classification of Zeta UMi is A3Vn,[3] a notation that indicates this is an A-type main-sequence star with broad "nebulous" absorption lines in its spectrum due to rapid rotation.

[14] The star is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 210 km/s, which is creating an equatorial bulge that is estimated to be 10% larger than the polar radius.

[10] A black body fit to the data yields a mean dust temperature of 160 K and an orbital radius of 42.5 AU.