| Abstract : | Galaxies can undergo significant changes in their shape and structure when they interact with one another. Gas can be captured during these interactions, forming distinct structures such as polar rings, double/multiple rings, and extended tidal tails. Good examples are the helix galaxy, annulus galaxy, cartwheel galaxy, and narrow ring galaxies. Interactions with companion galaxies and the absorption of small galaxies can also play a role in the evolution of galaxies over time. Studying star formation in such galaxies is crucial for understanding their evolution. NGC 3718 is an excellent example of such a galaxy. It is a nearby galaxy (D=14.2 Mpc). It possesses a unique morphology due to its prominent dust lane, multiple tidal arms and warped disk, making it an exciting science case to study star formation in such structures. Some researchers classified it as a nearly polar ring galaxy (Sparke et al., 2009) due to the significant tilt of one of its orbits w.r.t the galaxy plane, while others have classified it as the SB(s)a pec type (de Vaucouleurs et al., 1991), noting the presence of a dust lane connecting to the arm. We have used multiwavelength data from UVIT onboard AstroSat, GALEX, Spitzer 3.6 micrometre and DECaLS g,r band DR9 data to study the peculiar features of NGC 3718. We obtained the star formation rate and the age of the star-forming clumps in the galaxy. Its multiple tidal arms and warped disk indicate that it must have gone through some merger or fly-by interaction in the past. Our analysis uses UV colours to trace the merger morphology, timescales and evolution in the NGC 3718. |
