According to Garrison et al. (1994)[3] this is a B-typesubgiant star with a stellar classification of B9 IV (Si), where the suffix notation indicates this is a Silicon star. Cowley et al. (1969) listed it with a class of A0 V Si:,[4] which would match an A-type main-sequence star with the ':' indicating some uncertainty in the classification. It is a marginally chemically-peculiar star[10] with weaker than normal helium absorption lines and displaying helium line variability.[11] The widths of the lines of ionized silicon vary with a period of 21.12 ± 0.48 hours.[12]
21 Canum Venaticorum is classified as an Alpha2 Canum Venaticorum typevariable star and its brightness varies by 0.04 magnitudes over a period of 18.4 hours.[5] Its variability was discovered in 1984 by Juraj Zverko[13] and it was given its variable star designation in 1987.[14] It is around 201 million years old and is spinning with a relatively high projected rotational velocity of 96 km/s.[7] The star has 2.73[7] times the mass of the Sun and 2.8[6] times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 72[2] times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 11,036 K.[7]
^ abGarrison, R. F; Gray, R. O (1994), "The late B-type stars: Refined MK classification, confrontation with stromgren photometry, and the effects of rotation", The Astronomical Journal, 107: 1556, Bibcode:1994AJ....107.1556G, doi:10.1086/116967.
^ abCowley, A.; et al. (April 1969), "A study of the bright A stars. I. A catalogue of spectral classifications", Astronomical Journal, 74: 375–406, Bibcode:1969AJ.....74..375C, doi:10.1086/110819.
^Zverko, J.; et al. (March 1994), "Abundance Determination in the Chemically Peculiar Cp-Star 21-CANUM-VENATICORUM by Means of Spectrum Synthesis", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 283 (3): 932, Bibcode:1994A&A...283..932Z.
^Zverko, J. (September 1984), "Classification of Ap-Stars HR 830 and 21 CVn", Bulletin of the Astronomical Institute of Czechoslovakia, 35: 294, Bibcode:1984BAICz..35..294Z.
^Sriraghavan, S. M.; Jayakumar, K.; Babu, G. S. D.; Sajutha, S. (June 2004), "Variation of the Si II features in the chemically peculiar star - HD 115735", Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India, 32 (2): 113, Bibcode:2004BASI...32..113S.