X-ray analysis of the cluster 3C 129

The cluster 3C 129 is classified as a rich cluster. An analysis of the properties of the cluster 3C 129 from ROSAT PSPC and HRI, Einstein IPC, and EXOSAT ME observations is presented. The mean temperature from a joint fit of the ROSAT PSPC and EXOSAT ME data is 5.5(+/-0.2)keV. The luminosity is 0.6x10⁴⁴ergs^-1 in 0.2-2.4keV and 2.7x10⁴⁴ergs^-1 in 0.2-10keV. We find a cooling flow with a rate of ~84M_solaryr^-1. The central gas density is 6x10^-3cm^-3, and the ICM mass is 3.6x10¹³M_solar. The total cluster mass is ~5x10¹⁴M_solar. The X-ray morphology shows an east-west elongation, which is evidence for a recent merger event. The radio source 3C 129.1 is located near the X-ray centre. Another cluster member galaxy (the radio galaxy 3C 129) is a prototype of head-tailed radio galaxies, and is located in the west part of the cluster. The tail points along the gradient of intracluster gas pressure. There are no significant point X-ray sources associated with the AGNs of the two radio galaxies.