WFPC2 Observations of NGC 454: An Interacting Pair of Galaxies

We present Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 images in the F450W, F606W, and F814W filters of the interacting pair of galaxies NGC 454. Our data indicate that the system is in the early stages of interaction. A population of young star clusters has formed around the late component, and substantial amounts of gas have sunk into the center of the earlier component, where it has not yet produced significant visible star formation or nuclear activity. We have photometric evidence that the star clusters have strong line emission, which indicates the presence of a substantial component of hot, massive stars that formed less than 5-10 Myr ago.