The Radial Velocities of Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.

It is found that the radial velocities in the Virgo Cluster do not deviate significantly from a Gaussian distribution. However, reasonable assumptions regarding the mass to luminosity ratios of galaxies indicate that there is no equipartition of energy between cluster members, i.e., the velocity dispersion is the same for galaxies of large and small mass. The analysis of the velocity differences between members of close pairs indicates that many close pairs in the Virgo Cluster form stable binary systems. Application of the method developed by Page (1952) to the close binaries in the Virgo Cluster yields a mass to light ratio M/L< <280, which is considerably smaller than the value M/L 700, which is obtained from the virial theorem under the assumption that the entire mass of the cluster is in the form of visible galaxies. Although the number of multiple galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, for which velocity data are available, is small, the difference between the mass to light ratios obtained from mul- tiple galaxies and from the virial theorem is possibly significant.