This system forms a detached,[5] single-lined spectroscopic binary[3] with an orbital period of 39.5 days and a low eccentricity of 0.04.[8] Its binary nature was discovered in 1899 by American astronomer W. W. Campbell and the first orbital determination was made in 1910 by Canadian astronomer J. S. Plaskett.[12] The orbital plane is nearly aligned with the line of sight to the Earth, so the pair forms an eclipsing binary. The primary eclipse has a minimum of 4.23 in magnitude, while the secondary minimum is magnitude 4.21.[2] This eclipsing behavior was discovered by German astronomer P. Guthnick using observations between 1946 and 1947.[12]
^ abNicolet, B. (1978), "Photoelectric photometric Catalogue of homogeneous measurements in the UBV System", Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 34: 1–49, Bibcode:1978A&AS...34....1N.
^ abcRedfield, S.; et al. (June 2006), "A Cycle-4 Survey of RS CVn Binary Systems", in Sonneborn, G.; Moos, H.; Andersson, B.-G. (eds.), Astrophysics in the Far Ultraviolet: Five Years of Discovery with FUSE ASP Conference Series, Vol. 348, Proceedings of the Conference held 2-6 August, 2004 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, vol. 348, p. 269, Bibcode:2006ASPC..348..269R.
^Böhm-Vitense, Erika; et al. (December 2000), "Ultraviolet Emission Lines in BA and Non-BA Giants", The Astrophysical Journal, 545 (2): 992–999, Bibcode:2000ApJ...545..992B, doi:10.1086/317850.
^ abClimenhaga, J. L.; et al. (November 1950), "Spectrographic observations of Epsilon Ursae Minoris", Publications of the Dominion Observatory Ottawa, 8: 401–408, Bibcode:1950PDAO....8..401C.
^de Medeiros, J. R. (June 2004), Maeder, Andre; Eenens, Philippe (eds.), "The Rotation of Red Giants and Horizontal Branch Stars (Invited Review)", Stellar Rotation, Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 215, held 11-15 November, 2002 in Cancun, Yucatan, Mexico, vol. 215, San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, p. 144, Bibcode:2004IAUS..215..144D