The ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample -- III. Optical spectra of the central cluster galaxies

Abstract

We present new spectra of dominant galaxies in X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies, which combine with our previously published spectra to form a sample of 256 dominant galaxies in 215 clusters. 177 of the clusters are members of the ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS; Ebeling et al.), and 17 have no previous measured redshift. This is the rst paper in a series correlating the properties of brightest cluster galaxies and their host clusters in the radio, optical and X-ray wavebands.