Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2016
This paper summarizes various uses which have been made of QSO pairs. Statistical studies using pairs show that the sky distribution of QSOs of arbitrary redshifts is random, and that QSOs of similar redshifts are clustered on a linear scale similar to that of galaxies today. Close pairs are used to set limits on the masses of QSOs. And absorption line studies of QSO pairs support the extrinsic hypothesis for the origin of the narrow absorption lines and the cosmological interpretation of the redshift, they demonstrate the presence of absorbing matter around QSOs, and they set limits on the sizes of the absorbers.