[1][2] III Zw 2 was first discovered by Fritz Zwicky via a 48-inch Schmidt survey as a stellar object with faint wisps.

[6][7] However according to a recent study made on its budge and disk decomposition via Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, it has since been reclassified as an elliptical galaxy.

[9] Furthermore, III Zw 2 belongs to a class of radio-intermediate quasars[10] and is a member of a triple galaxy system.

In additional, to its superluminal jet, the galaxy shows two distinctive γ-ray flares happening between November 2009 and May 2010, according to observations by Fermi-LAT.

[14] The black hole is responsible for producing an ionized wind outflow with a velocity of (−1780 ± 670) km s−1.