Spectroscopy of the neighboring massive clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223

We present a spectroscopic catalog of the neighboring massive clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223. The catalog contains the positions, redshifts, R magnitudes, V-R color, as well as the equivalent widths for a number of lines for 183 galaxies, 153 of them belonging to the A 222 and A 223 system. We determine the heliocentric redshifts to be z=0.2126+/-0.0008 for A 222 and z=0.2079+/-0.0008 for A 223. The velocity dispersions of both clusters in the cluster restframe are about the same: sigma = 1014^{+90}{-71} km/s and sigma = 1032^{+99}{-76} km/s for A 222 and A 223, respectively. While we find evidence for substructure in the spatial distribution of A 223, no kinematic substructure can be detected. From the red cluster sequence identified in a color–magnitude–diagram we determine the luminosity of both clusters and derive mass–to–light ratios in the R–band of (M/L)A222 = (202+/-43) h_70 M{su}n/L_{sun} and (M/L)A223 = (149+/-33) h_70 M{sun}/L_{sun}. Additionally we identify a group of background galaxies at z ~ 0.242.