ASCA Observations of a Nearby and Massive Galaxy Cluster Abell 3627

The results obtained from ASCA observations of the cluster of galaxies Abell 3627 are presented. This cluster, located behind the Milky Way, was recently found to be a nearby, X-ray bright, and very rich cluster. Pointed observations onto the central region of the cluster gave a gas temperature of ~ 7 keV and a metallicity of about 0.2 solar. An offset pointing to a substructure elongated to the south-east of the cluster center gave a significantly lower temperature of ~ 5 keV. The 2-10 keV luminosity within a radius of 40' (1.1 Mpc) is estimated to be 3.7 x 10 44 erg s _1 . The X-ray data imply a cluster mass of about 4x 10 14i\4) within 40'.