Test of the gravitational lens hypothesis for the quasar pair 1146+111B,C

It has recently been suggested¹ that the quasars 1146 + 111B,C, separated on the sky by 2.6 arc min, are actually two images of a single object produced by an extremely massive gravitational lens. The basis for this suggestion is the similarity in redshifts (within 100-200 km s^-1) and spectral features. Here we report differences between the two spectra in a hitherto unobserved range, suggesting that the two images are in fact distinct quasars located close together in space.