Description
We present a 90 per cent flux-complete sample of the 201 X-ray-brightest clusters of galaxies in the northern hemisphere ({delta}>=0{deg}), at high Galactic latitudes (|b|>= 20{deg}), with measured redshifts z<=0.3 and fluxes higher than 4.4x10^-12^erg/cm^2^/s in the 0.112.4 keV band. The sample, called the ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS), is selected from ROSAT All-Sky Survey data and is the largest X-ray-selected cluster sample compiled to date. In addition to Abell clusters, which form the bulk of the sample, the BCS also contains the X-ray-brightest Zwicky clusters and other clusters selected from their X-ray properties alone. Effort has been made to ensure the highest possible completeness of the sample and the smallest possible contamination by non-cluster X-ray sources. X-ray fluxes are computed using an algorithm tailored for the detection and characterization of X-ray emission from galaxy clusters. These fluxes are accurate to better than 15 per cent (mean 1{sigma} error).
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