  NGC 6872, hereafter the Condor, is a large spiral galaxy that is interacting
with its closest companion, the S0 galaxy IC 4970. The extent of the Condor
provides an opportunity for detailed investigation of the impact of the
interaction on the current star formation rate and its history across the
galaxy, on the age and spatial distribution of its stellar population, and on
the mechanism that drive the star formation activity. To address these issues
we analyzed the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to near-infrared (near-IR) spectral
energy distribution (SED) of 17, 10 kpc diameter, regions across the galaxy,
and derived their star formation history, current star formation rate, and
stellar population and mass. We find that most of the star formation takes
place in the extended arms, with very little star formation in the central 5
kpc of the galaxy, in contrast to what was predicted from previous numerical
simulations. There is a trend of increasing star formation activity with
distance from the nucleus of the galaxy, and no evidence for a recent increase
in the current star formation rate (SFR) due to the interaction. The nucleus
itself shows no significant current star formation activity. The extent of the
Condor also provides an opportunity to test the applicability of a single
standard prescription for conversion of the FUV + IR (22 micron) intensities to
a star formation rate for all regions. We find that the conversion factor
differs from region to region, arising from regional differences in the stellar
populations.
