A very close companion has been reported usingspeckle interferometry,[12] but this remains unconfirmed. The separation at discovery in 1986 was0.07 mas and it was measured at0.066 mas in 1999. It was catalogued byHipparcos as a problem binary, indicating that the measurements of its position were not consistent with the motion of a single star, and no satisfactory orbit could be found to match the motion.[12]
This star, along withλ Aur andσ Aur, were Kazwini'sAl Ḣibāʽ (ألحباع), the Tent.[13] According to the catalogue of stars in theTechnical Memorandum 33-507 - A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars,Al Ḣibāʽ were the title for three stars:λ Aur asAl Ḣibāʽ I, μ Aur asAl Ḣibāʽ II andσ Aur asAl Ḣibāʽ III.[14]
^abcdJohnson, H. L.; et al. (1966), "UBVRIJKL photometry of the bright stars",Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory,4 (99): 99,Bibcode:1966CoLPL...4...99J.
^Abt, Helmut A.; Morrell, Nidia I. (1995), "The Relation between Rotational Velocities and Spectral Peculiarities among A-Type Stars",The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series,99: 135,Bibcode:1995ApJS...99..135A,doi:10.1086/192182.
^abcMason, Brian D.; Martin, Christian; Hartkopf, William I.; Barry, Donald J.; Germain, Marvin E.; Douglass, Geoffrey G.; Worley, Charles E.; Wycoff, Gary L.; Ten Brummelaar, Theo; Franz, Otto G. (1999), "Speckle Interferometry of New and Problem HIPPARCOS Binaries",The Astronomical Journal,117 (4): 1890,Bibcode:1999AJ....117.1890M,doi:10.1086/300823.
