Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2016
Rich clusters of galaxies are a common feature of the large-scale structure of the Universe. Those studied so far, show striking regularities with
(a) a smooth radial gradient of number density.
(b) ’isothermal’ distributions, which according to Bahcall (1975) have a scatter of only ±15% in the size of their characteristic core radii.
(c) their limiting structural diameters are ~50 Mpc (cf. Abell, 1975), if they are identified with superclusters.
(d) the magnitude of the velocity dispersion about their centres is generally 600-1000 km s-1, and the velocities are cpnsistent with a gaussian distribution (Yahil and Vidal, 1976; also Faber and Dressier, 1976).
(e) The extreme velocities are generally within ±3000 km s-1, and for Coma are ∼2400 km s-1 (Tifft and Gregory, 1976).
(f) elliptical galaxies tend to predominate near the centre, spirals in the surrounding loose groups.