The remarkable absorption-line systems in the quasar Tololo 1037-27

The first medium-resolution spectroscopic observations of the quasar Tololo 1037-27 (zsub(em)=2.18) are presented. 49 absorption lines are found between 3500 and 6000 A, and seven absorption-line redshifts are identified. Remarkably, six of the absorption systems are in the small redshift range zsub(abs)=1.971 to zsub(abs)=2.138. The two most prominent absorption systems, zsub(abs)=2.138 and zsub(abs)=2.082 are of high ionization and the full width at half maximum at rest and after correction for the instrumental response of their Lyα and CIV lines is in the range 600-1100 km s-1, i.e. larger than the width of lines which would be produced by absorbing material in a single galaxy. (author)