Description
IC 2163 and NGC 2207 are interacting galaxies that have been well studied at optical and radio wavelengths and simulated in numerical models to reproduce the observed kinematics and morphological features. Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations reported here show over 200 bright clumps from young star complexes. The brightest IR clump is a morphologically peculiar region of star formation in the western arm of NGC 2207. This clump, which dominates the H{alpha} and radio continuum emission from both galaxies, accounts for ~12% of the total 24{mu}m flux. Nearly half of the clumps are regularly spaced along some filamentary structure, whether in the starburst oval of IC 2163 or in the thin spiral arms of NGC 2207.
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