X-ray morphologies of Abell clusters

Results are presented for X-ray measurements made with the Einstein Observatory's IPC for a sample of 49 Abell clusters, which were used to determine quantitative measures of two morphological parameters of these clusters, the orientation and ellipticity. Consideration is given to the techniques used for estimating and removing background noise in the images and for determining the variation of these parameters with the flux level of a cluster. It was found that most clusters are clearly flattened; for 20 of these clusters, the orientation was unambiguously determined. A catalog of cluster properties is presented.