In 1911, American astronomer Keivin Burns discovered that the radial velocity of Gamma Pegasi varied slightly. This was confirmed in 1953 by American astronomer D. Harold McNamara, who identified it as a Beta Cephei variable. (At the time he actually identified it as a Beta Canis Majoris star, which was subsequently designated a Beta Cephei variable.) It has a radial pulsation period of 0.15175 days (3.642 hours), but also shows the behavior of a slowly pulsating B star (SPB) with three additional pulsational frequencies. Its magnitude varies between +2.78 and +2.89 over the course of each pulsation cycle.