Pi2 Ursae Majoris is a member of the Milky Way galaxy's thin disk population. It is following an orbit through the galaxy with an eccentricity of 0.10, which carries it as close to the Galactic Center as 27.7 kilolight-years (8.5 kiloparsecs) and as far as 34.1 kly (10.5 kpc). The inclination of this orbit lies close to the galactic plane, so it departs this plane by no more than 260 ly (80 pc).[3]
Planetary system
Based upon observed radial velocity changes in the star, in 2007 the presence of a planetary companion was announced. The planet, designated 4 Ursae Majoris b, is at least seven times more massive than Jupiter. Its orbit is eccentric, orbiting 4 Ursae Majoris at 87% the distance from Sun to Earth. Compared to the Sun, this star has a lower abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium, what astronomers term the star's metallicity. This is curious, because most main-sequence stars with planets tend to have a higher abundance of metals.[5]
With π1, σ1, σ2, ρ, A and d, it composed the Arabic asterismAl Ṭhibā᾽, the Gazelle.[9] According to the catalogue of stars in the Technical Memorandum 33-507 - A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars, Al Ṭhibā were the title for seven stars: A as Althiba I, π1 as Althiba II, this star (π2) as Althiba III, ρ as Althiba IV, σ1 as Althiba V, σ2 as Althiba VI, and d as Althiba VII.[10]
^Bernacca, P. L.; Perinotto, M. (1970), "A catalogue of stellar rotational velocities", Contributi Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in Asiago, 239 (1): 1, Bibcode:1970CoAsi.239....1B