Quasi-stellar Objects with Absorption Lines

Abstract

I SHALL employ the observational results tabulated by Burbidge and Burbidge¹, to which reference can be made for further information on almost all matters relevant to my discussion. The discussion is based on the assumption that the red-shift z in the spectrum of a quasi-stellar object (QSO) is cosmological, apart from a modification mentioned later. Then an immediate inference from the observations is that there exist many QSOs below the limits of optical or radio detection, the fraction below such limits increasing with increasing z. This is because, on any feasible cosmological model, most QSOs that show relatively small red-shifts would fall below the limits of detection if transferred to distances corresponding to relatively large red-shifts.