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The stars of Chamæleon are all relatively faint, but with a visual magnitude of +4.05, Alpha Chamæleontis is the brightest of this group (though at +4.09, nearby Gamma Chamæleontis is very nearly as bright).
An imaginary line through the stars Aspidiske and Miaplacidus in Carina leads on southwards towards Alpha Chamæleontis, which is recognisable because it forms a distinct apparent double star with neighouring Theta Chamæleontis. In reality Theta is more than twice as far from the Solar System as Alpha, which lies about 64 light years away.
Physically, Alpha Chamæelontis is a dwarf star, about twice the size of the Sun (though generating more than nine times as much energy). It belongs to the F-type (bright yellow) spectral classification, and its spectrum shows an unsual concentration of iron compared with stars a of similar type.
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