It bore the traditional Arabic name Al Dhanab, from the Arabic الذنب al-dhanab "the tail" (of the Southern Fish)[14]when it was still part of Piscis Austrinus with the Bayer designation κ Piscis Austrini (Kappa Piscis Austrini). In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[15] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Aldhanab for this star on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.[13]
Analysis of the spectrum by N. Houk in 1979 shows it to match a stellar classification of B8 III,[3] with the luminosity class of III indicating this is a giant star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core and evolved away from the main sequence. R. O. Gray and R. F. Garrison in 1989 found a less evolved class of B8IV-Vs.[4] The luminosity of Gamma Gruis is around 390 times that of the Sun, with a significant portion of the energy emission being in the ultraviolet.[18] Its outer envelope has an effective temperature of 12,520 K,[9] which gives the star a blue-white hue. Gamma Gruis is rotating relatively rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of 57 km s−1.[11] By way of comparison, the Sun has an azimuthal velocity along its equator of just 2 km s−1.
Based upon analysis of data collected during the Hipparcos mission, this star may have a proper motion companion that is causing gravitational perturbation of Gamma Gruis.[19]
^ abcdGutierrez-Moreno, Adelina; et al. (1966). "A System of photometric standards". Publications of the Department of Astronomy University of Chile. 1. Publicaciones Universidad de Chile, Department de Astronomy: 1–17. Bibcode:1966PDAUC...1....1G.
^ abHouk, Nancy (1979), Michigan catalogue of two-dimensional spectral types for the HD stars, vol. 3, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Bibcode:1982mcts.book.....H
^ abGray, R. O.; Garrison, R. F. (1989), "The late A-type stars – Refined MK classification, confrontation with Stromgren photometry, and the effects of rotation", Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 70: 623, Bibcode:1989ApJS...70..623G, doi:10.1086/191349.
^ abcDavid, Trevor J.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A. (2015), "The Ages of Early-Type Stars: Strömgren Photometric Methods Calibrated, Validated, Tested, and Applied to Hosts and Prospective Hosts of Directly Imaged Exoplanets", The Astrophysical Journal, 804 (2): 146, arXiv:1501.03154, Bibcode:2015ApJ...804..146D, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/146, S2CID33401607.