Funneling all that material causes some black holes to unleash an extraordinary amount of energy that scientists believe fuel the formation of a quasar — the brightest known objects in the universe.

The object, named J0742+2704, is classified as a quasar, a type of active galaxy with jets so brilliant that they outshine the rest of the galaxy, causing it to resemble a point-like star in images.

A quasar is a type of active galactic nucleus—a galaxy hosting a supermassive black hole that is actively consuming material. The black hole's accretion disk reaches extraordinary temperatures ...