Investigating star formation in nearby interacting galaxies

We are investigating how the interaction between galaxies in the local Universe triggers star formation, both globally and in different regions of the galaxies. We highlight two examples where one of the interacting galaxies is significantly smaller. We look at combined spectrographic and multi-wavelength photometric data to look for tracers of intense star formation and obtain metallicities. Comparing the calculated star formation surface densities and metallicities to isolated galaxies gives us a hint at how star formation and the composition of the interstellar material evolved through the interaction. Resolving the nearby galaxies shows how differently the two galaxies change due to the interaction, and at the same time, it makes it possible to identify local star-forming regions with different characteristics.