HD 167042 is a star with an orbiting exoplanet in the northern constellation of Draco. With an apparent visual magnitude of +5.97, the star is dimly visible to the naked eye. It is located at a distance of 162 light years based on parallax measurements, but it is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −18 km/s. HD 164595 has a relatively large proper motion, traversing the celestial sphere at an angular rate of yr−1.
The spectrum of HD 167042 presents as an evolved K-type giant star, an orange giant, with a stellar classification of K1 III. However, the position of this star on the H-R diagram suggests it is still a subgiant star. When this star was a main sequence, it was white-hued mid to late A-type star based on its mass. It shows no significant magnetic activity in its chromosphere. The star has 1.88 times the mass of the Sun and has expanded to 5.70 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 12.5 times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,547 K.
On 28 November 2007, a preprint of the discovery of the exoplanet HD 167042 b was posted to the arXiv server. The peer reviewed paper was then published in The Astrophysical Journal on 1 March 2008. The discovery was later independently confirmed.