UBVI photometry of NGC 6872 clusters population

We find star clusters with ages between 1-100Myr distributed in the tidal tails, while the tails themselves have an age of less than 150Myr. Most of the young massive (10^4^<=M/M_{sun}<=10^7^) clusters are found in the outer regions of the galactic disk or the tidal tails.

The mass distribution of the cluster population can be well described by a power-law of the form N(m){prop.to}m^-alpha^, where alpha=1.85+/-0.11, in very good agreement with other young cluster populations found in a variety of different environments. We estimate the star formation rate for three separate regions of the galaxy, and find that the eastern tail is forming stars at ~2 times the rate of the western tail and ~5 times the rate of the main body of the galaxy.