This is an ordinary K-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of K3V.[3] The age estimate is poorly constrained but it appears to have an intermediate age of several billion years. However, the activity level suggests a younger star; the rotation rate of the star may have been increased through synchronization with the companion, resulting in a higher than normal activity for its age.[6]X-ray emission has been detected from this star.[12]
HD 162020 b is a companion, initially thought to be a brown dwarf, with a minimum mass of 15.0MJ. At the time of discovery, the actual mass was undetermined since the orbital inclination was not known. This object orbits very close to the star at a distance of 0.075 AU with an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.277. The object's distance from the star ranges from 0.054 to 0.096 AU. It has an extremely high semi-amplitude of 1,813 m/s. The discovery was announced on April 15, 2000 by the Geneva Extrasolar Planet Search Team.[13][6]
Despite the presence of this massive object in an eccentric orbit around the star, computer modelling done in 2017 (when the object was still thought to be a brown dwarf) showed it is still theoretically possible for an Earth-mass exoplanet to be occupying a dynamically-stable orbit in the habitable zone of this star.[14]
An astrometric measurement of this object's true mass was published in 2022 as part of Gaia DR3, revealing it to be 0.39 M☉ and thus likely a red dwarf star.[9] A full orbital solution was published in 2023.[5]
