2002AJ....123..720C

We present new interferometric H I and CO (J=1⟶0) observations of the luminous infrared source, Arp 256. Arp 256 consists of two spiral galaxies in an early stage of merging, with a projected nuclear separation of 29 kpc (54") and an infrared luminosity of 2.0x10¹¹ L_☉. Despite the large separation of the galaxies' nuclei and mildly disrupted stellar components, the H I disks are found to be strongly disrupted, and the southern galaxy in Arp 256 shows an elevated star formation efficiency, which is consistent with a nuclear starburst. Both of these results run contrary to expectations, posing interesting questions about the physical mechanisms involved in stimulating star formation during an interaction.