The Interacting System NGC 7753--7752 (Arp 86). I. BVRI Photometry

BVRI surface photometry is presented for the interacting galaxy pair Arp 86 (NGC 7753-7752). Deep high-resolution images were obtained in order to study the faint tidal features. The bridge was found to be bluer than the tail both in V - R and B - V, the V - R color probably suggesting enhanced long-term star formation in the bridge. The end of the bridge is extremely blue in B - V (0.2-0.4), thus indicating present ongoing star formation. The CCD images were also used to estimate initial parameters, such as inclinations and disk scale lengths for the dynamical modeling of Arp 86, presented in Salo and Laurikainen (1993).