The merger of smaller nearby galaxies may be contributing to its brightness.

[3][4][5] The light is generated by a quasar 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.

The high energy[6] optical light and ultraviolet light emitted by the accretion disc around the quasar's supermassive black hole is absorbed by the galaxy's dust and re-emitted in the infrared.

WISE J224607.57–052635.0 has a light-travel distance of 12.5 billion light years from it to Earth.

The galaxy was discovered using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.