H. Matsuzawa, M. Matsuoka, Y. Ikebe, T. Mihara and K. Yamashita

Abstract

We report on the first result concerning the Ophiuchus cluster of galaxies observed with ASCA during the performance-verification phase. The obtained image in the energy range of 0.7--10 keV is nearly circular, and the peak of the X-ray surface brightness is coincident with the position of the cD galaxy. We analyzed the ASCA GIS data within a 13.hspace {-2pt}(') 8 radius of the cluster center while considering the energy-dependent flux-contaminated effect due to ASCA X-ray telescope. This data can be well explained with the isothermal beta model, in which the density profile is expressed with a beta profile of r_core=3.hspace {-2pt}(') 8 and beta =0.62, and the temperature and metal abundances are constant at kT=9.8 keV and Z=0.24 Z_solar . The central excess density profile obtained with Einstein HRI is also consistent with the ASCA GIS data.