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    PR # 32249                                                                   
     We propose to study a system of four merging clusters of galaxies in        
     the core region of the Shapley Supercluster, the densest known              
     baryonic Supercluster-size concentration in the Universe.  We will          
     accurately measure the variation of temperature and heavy element           
     content of the hot gas within the clusters and between them in the          
     core of the Supercluster. Supplemented by the optical luminosities of       
     galaxies that we have measured, this will help us derive the ratios         
     of mass to light and of gas mass to stellar mass over the whole             
     region.  Our models based on ROSAT observations show that our               
     proposed observations will be able to put new interesting constraints       
     on the evolutionary history of these clusters and their hot                 
    intracluster medium.                                                         
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