Young Star-Forming Complexes in the Ring of the S0 Galaxy NGC 4324

We present the results of our study of star-forming regions in the lenticular galaxy NGC 4324. During a complex analysis of multiwavelength observational data—the narrow-band emission-line images obtained with the 2.5-m telescope at the Caucasus Mountain Observatory of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State University and the archival images in the broad photometric bands of the SDSS, GALEX and WISE space telescope surveys—we have detected young star-forming complexes (clumps) located in the inner ring of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4324 and established a regular pattern of their distribution along the ring, which, nevertheless, changes with time (with age of star-forming regions). We suggest several possible evolutionary paths of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4324, of which the swallowing of gas-rich satellites or giant clouds (the so-called minor merging) is the most probable one.