Photometry and spectroscopy of Markarian 266

A soft X-ray emission feature modeled as shock-heated plasma with T~10^7^K is cospatial with radio continuum emission between the galaxies. Mid-infrared diagnostics provide mixed results, but overall suggest a composite system with roughly equal contributions of AGN and starburst radiation powering the bolometric luminosity. Approximately 120 star clusters have been detected, with most having estimated ages less than 50Myr.

Detection of 24{mu}m emission aligned with soft X-rays, radio continuum, and ionized gas emission extending ~34" (20kpc) north of the galaxies is interpreted as ~2x10^7^M_{sun}_ of dust entrained in an outflowing superwind. At optical wavelengths this Northern Loop region is resolved into a fragmented morphology indicative of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in an expanding shell of ionized gas. Mrk 266 demonstrates that the dust "blow-out" phase can begin in a LIRG well before the galaxies fully coalesce during a subsequent ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) phase, and rapid gas consumption in luminous dual AGNs with kiloparsec-scale separations early in the merger process may explain the paucity of detected binary QSOs (with parsec-scale orbital separations) in spectroscopic surveys.

An evolutionary sequence is proposed representing a progression from dual to binary AGNs, accompanied by an increase in observed L_x_/L_ir_ ratios by over two orders of magnitude.