The NGC7771+NGC7770 Minor Merger: Harassing the Little One?
  Numerical simulations of minor mergers, typically having mass ratios greater
than 3:1, predict little enhancement in the global star formation activity.
However, these models also predict that the satellite galaxy is more
susceptible to the effects of the interaction than the primary. We use optical
integral field spectroscopy and deep optical imaging to study the
NGC7771+NGC7770 interacting system (~10:1 stellar mass ratio) to test these
predictions. We find that the satellite galaxy NGC7770 is currently
experiencing a galaxy-wide starburst with most of the optical light being from
young and post-starburst stellar populations(<1Gyr). This galaxy lies off of
the local star-forming sequence for composite galaxies with an enhanced
integrated specific star formation rate. We also detect in the outskirts of
NGC7770 Halpha emitting gas filaments. This gas appears to have been stripped
from one of the two galaxies and is being excited by shocks. All these results
are consistent with a minor-merger induced episode(s) of star formation in
NGC7770 after the first close passage. Such effects are not observed on the
primary galaxy NGC7771.
