Based on the object's luminosity, it is estimated to be 3.7 billion light years distant from the Solar System.

Analysis in 1998 reveal that it might be relatively dusty based on the quasar's X-ray properties;[12] Long thought to be solitary, the CHiPS (Clusters Hiding in Plain Sight) Survey found PSZ2 G317.79+26.63, a massive galaxy cluster surrounding the quasar.

[4] The team analyzed data from the 2MASS, NVSS, ROSAT, SUMSS, and WISE all-sky surveys in order to locate powerful sources of infrared, radio, and X-ray light.

The goal was to discover new galaxy clusters that were previously misidentified as isolated sources of X-ray light due to the central quasar's brightness.

When combined with the surrounding cluster, both have a mass of 6.9+3.4−2.6×1014 M☉, making it a thousand times more massive than our own galaxy.