Hubble space telescope observations of dust and star-forming regions in the ocular galaxy IC 2163 and its spiral companion NGC 2207

Hubble Space Telescope observations in 17, B, V, and I passbands of the interacting spiral galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207 are used to measure extinctions in the cloud and intercloud regions and ages and luminosities of the star-forming regions. The extinction in the part of NGC 2207 seen in projection against IC 2163 was determined by using the method of White & Keel. The extinctions there and elsewhere were also determined from radiative transfer models of the magnitude differences between clouds and their surroundings. The intercloud extinction in V band ranges from 0.5 to 1 mag on the line of sight, and the cloud extinction ranges from 1 to 2 mag. The measured star-forming regions in these galaxies have a power-law relation between size and luminosity and a power-law luminosity distribution function. These power laws are consistent with a fractal dimension for the star formation that is the same as that for interstellar gas, D ∼ 2.2, extending over scales ranging from 20 to 1000 pc. Fifteen compact massive star clusters that are analogous to super-star clusters found in starburst regions are in the spiral arms of NGC 2207. Nothing is peculiar about these regions except for a high H i velocity dispersion (∼50 km s-1). Two more super-star clusters are in the tidally compressed oval of IC 2163. These clusters have masses ranging from ∼ 104 to 2 × 105 M0 and ages of a few times 106 yr.