Description
We present the X-ray characteristics of a sample of 368 clusters of galaxies with redshifts less than 0.2 observed with the Einstein Imaging Proportional Counter. For each cluster, we measure the 0.5-4.5keV counting rate and compute the 0.5-4.5keV source luminosity, as well as the bolometric luminosity within fixed metric radii. We detect 85% of Abell clusters with z<0.1, demonstrating that the large majority of these optically selected clusters are not the results of chance superpositions. For 163 clusters, we measure their X-ray surface brightness profiles and determine their core radii. For {~}230 clusters, we then use either our measured core radii and values, or mean values derived for this sample, to measure central gas densities and gas masses. We use estimated or measured cluster gas temperatures, along with the derived gas-density profiles, to estimate total cluster masses, under the assumptions that the gas is isothermal and in hydrostatic equilibrium.
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