The system can be divided in three pairs and is in a hierarchical architecture, with orbits inside others. The inner pair is made up of the components Aa and Ab, which take about one month to complete an orbit around each other and are separated by 0.32 astronomical units.[8] It has a combined visual magnitude of 4.18.[3] The primary is an A-type main-sequence star, with a class of A0V, indicating that it is generating energy through corehydrogen fusion.[4] It has about 2.45 times the Sun's radius and an effective temperature of 9,550 K,[8] giving it the blue-white hue typical of early A-type stars.[14] The secondary is slightly cooler and smaller, with 1.56 times the Sun's radius and an effective temperature of 7,710 K.[8] This temperature is close to the dividing line between F and A-type stars and give it a white hue.[14]
The A-B system has an orbital period of 192 years, a physical separation of 48 AU and an eccentricity of 0.611.[7][8] The secondary, component B, of magnitude 5.22,[3] is also an A-type main-sequence star, with a spectral class A4V.[4] It is 1.73 times as large as the Sun and has an effective temperature of 8,330 K,[8] giving it the white hue of A-type stars.[14]
Component C is magnitude 11.0 and lies at an angular separation of 119″ from the A-B pair,[3] translating to 6,370 astronomical units at its distance.[8] It has a common proper motion and is at approximately the same distance as the other two stars,[10] although any orbit would last for hundreds of thousands of years.[15] It has a mass 62% of the Sun's,[8] a radius 58% of the Sun's, a temperature of about 4,157 K, and 9% of the Sun's luminosity.[10] It has an estimated spectral type of K6.[15]
It bore the traditional name Marfik (or Marsik), from the Arabic مرفق marfiq "elbow". In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[17] to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems.[18] It approved the name Marfik for the component Lambda Ophiuchi A on 12 September 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.[13]
^Johnson, 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.
^Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub. ISBN978-1-931559-44-7.
^ abc"The Colour of Stars". Australia Telescope, Outreach and Education. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. December 21, 2004. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
^ abA. Tokovinin. "HR 6149". Multiple Star Catalogue.
^Hessman, F. V.; et al. (2010). "On the naming convention used for multiple star systems and extrasolar planets". arXiv:1012.0707 [astro-ph.SR].
