Star Formation in the Interacting Pair NGC 7733/7734

The problem of star formation within the interacting pair NGC 7733/34 has been studied based on the UBVRI photometry of the source. The distribution of the colors of selected regions within the galaxies is used to infer an estimate for the age distribution of the star-forming regions. The results seem to indicate the presence of numerous extended young star-forming regions in the disk of one of the two galaxies, NGC 7733, with ages in the range 106–108 yr. However, there exists no evidence for any violent star formation activity in the past 108 yr in the nuclei of the two galaxies. The pair seems to be a merger-bound system with the brightest and youngest site of star-forming activity lying at the disk interface.