A red envelope around a dominant elliptical galaxy in an X-ray selected poor cluster

A photometric and spectroscopic study of the optical counterpart of the X-ray source 1E 1111.9-3754 has revealed a poor cluster of galaxies dominated by a very luminous giant elliptical. Three-color surface photometry of this galaxy shows that the elliptical body is surrounded by a large envelope with colors redder than the galaxy. The formation of this system in a high velocity dispersion poor cluster is briefly discussed.