Astronomers from MIT and other institutions have identified the earliest known flickering quasar, which dates back to just 850 million years after the Big Bang. This quasar, emitting light equivalent to 12 trillion suns, shows a surprising flat accretion disk, a structure typically associated with older, more mature black holes. The discovery challenges existing theories about the formation and growth of supermassive black holes, suggesting they may have matured much faster than previously believed. The researchers utilized data from NASA's NEOWISE mission, which provided infrared observations over a period of 14 years. The flickering of the quasar, akin to a candle's flame, provided insights into the structure of its accretion disk, indicating that the processes seen in modern quasars were already in place in the early universe. This finding not only adds to the understanding of quasar behavior but also raises new questions about the conditions that allowed for the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in the cosmos.