VV 5-32-63/64 - The 'supermassive double galaxy' in Abell 1775 revisited
Spectroscopy is presented for galaxies in A 1775, the cluster containing VV 5-32-63/64, an apparent double galaxy which has long been considered a gravitationally bound system with supermassive components (10 to the 13th solar masses). However, this model has run afoul of recent radio observations, which detected an extremely long straight radio tail emanating from the eastern galaxy in the pair. The present observations indicate that if both galaxies are members of the same cluster, the cluster radial-velocity dispersion (1522 km/sec) is large enough to account for the velocity difference between the two VV galaxies (1650 km/sec). It is therefore suggested that the VV galaxies are not gravitationally bound and need not be supermassive. The large velocity dispersion measured for A 1775 also strains suggested velocity dispersion vs X-ray luminosity relations for clusters of galaxies, as A 1775 has not yet been detected at X-ray wavelengths.