Reddening and extinction of a cluster of bright galaxies near the galactic plane in Cygnus

A cluster of nearby E and S0 galaxies with (v0) approximately equal to 7800 km s-1 exists in Cygnus near the zone of avoidance (b = +110). Two of the cluster members coincide with parts of the radio source 3C 402. BVR color indices and magnitudes are compared with mean values for unreddened galaxies and with the ridge-line of the Hubble diagram to give E(B--V) = 0/sup m/05 and A/sub V/ = 0/sup m/19 +- 0/sup m/3 sigma. These abnormally small values, which are similar to the reddening and extinction of the low-latitude Perseus cluster (b = -130), show again the patchy nature of the galactic dust distribution, and the near transparency of special regions near the galactic plane. A limit on the amount of neutral extinction in the direction of the Cygnus and Perseus clusters can be put by considerations of the Hubble diagram