How do quasars primarily appear to us from Earth?

Quasars appear primarily as bright distant galaxies due to their immense luminosity and energy output. They are powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, where gas and dust fall into the black hole and release enormous amounts of energy as they are heated up. This process generates bright radiation across various wavelengths, making quasars some of the most luminous objects in the universe.

When observed from Earth, these objects can outshine entire galaxies, even though they are located at extremely vast distances, often billions of light-years away. Their brightness allows us to detect them even at these vast distances, leading astronomers to identify them as distant galaxies with active galactic nuclei. This identification contributes to our understanding of the early universe, galaxy formation, and the dynamics of black holes.

The other options would not accurately describe quasars. While they are not faint stars, nor do they appear as dark patches or merely collections of gas and dust, their primary characteristic is their brightness and classification as distant galaxies.