R Lyrae is unusual in that it is a red star with a high proper motion, greater than 50 milliarcseconds a year.[8] It is one of the brightest stars at the K band, having an apparent magnitude of −2.08, only 14 stars are brighter.[9]
The variability is not consistent and regular, but periods of 46, 64, 378, and 1,000 days have been reported, with the 46-day period being the strongest.[4][11]
It is calculated that R Lyrae was a 2.0 M☉ star on the main sequence, similar to Sirius A today. It is now an oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch star, with both hydrogen and helium shells fusing. Due to stellar mass loss, R Lyrae now has a mass of 1.8 M☉.[6]
^Calculated using the absolute bolometric magnitude of R lyrae, with respect to the Sun's absolute bolometric magnitude of 4.83: 100.4(4.74+(−4.3) = 4130.48.
^ abcdDucati, J. R. (2002). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: Catalogue of Stellar Photometry in Johnson's 11-color system". CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues. 2237. Bibcode:2002yCat.2237....0D.
^Jiménez-Esteban, F. M.; Caballero, J. A.; Dorda, R.; Miles-Páez, P. A.; Solano, E. (2012). "Identification of red high proper-motion objects in Tycho-2 and 2MASS catalogues using Virtual Observatory tools". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 539: 12. arXiv:1201.5315. Bibcode:2012A&A...539A..86J. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201118375. S2CID53404166.