The Taffy galaxy pair: optical and radio characterization of an interacting system

J. SAPONARA; A. SMITH CASTELLI; F. FAIFER; C. ESCUDERO; C. MENDES DE OLIVEIRA; A.C. KRABBE; P. BENAGLIA

Congreso; Reunion Anual de la AAA 2021; 2021

The Taffy galaxy pair UGC 12915/4 constitutes an excellent example of an ongoing major gas-rich merger. Evidence suggests that the two galaxies experienced a head-on collision 25-30 Myr ago that raised an atomic and molecular gas bridge connecting both galaxies. This system has been poorly studied in the optical and near-infrared. Therefore, we observe the whole Taffy system with Gemini-North in g', r', i', z', Hα, and HαC bands. We aim to characterise the optical counterparts of several Ultra Luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), detect star clusters, extragalactic star-forming regions, and identify low-mass galaxies of tidal origin. We expect that this additional information will help to better understand the physical processes involved in galaxy interactions.