Accurate chemical compositions of star-forming regions are a critical diagnostic tool to characterize the star formation history and gas flows which regulate galaxy formation.
![Left: An example of PSF matching between the [O III] λ5007 PNB image from Keck/KCWI (top-left) and the [O III] 88 µm PNB image from Herschel/PACS (bottom-left). The KCWI PNB image has been convolved with a 2D Gaussian kernel (top-right) to match the PACS PNB image’s PSF. The resulting residual is shown in the bottom-right panel. The red dashed circles indicate the apertures from which the 1D spectra were extracted. Right: Modeling of dust attenuation based on the observed flux ratios of hydrogen Balmer and Paschen lines. In the top panel, the data points represent the correction factors needed to align the observed flux ratios with those predicted by Case B recombination. The best-fit attenuation models are represented by solid curves, while the shaded areas denote their 1σ uncertainties. The blue (orange) color indicates the 1D spectra before (after) PSF matching. The steep slope at the lower wavelengths is primarily due to contributions from stellar absorption. The lower panel shows the fractional deviations between the observed and best-fit flux ratios, for the same data points. Data points near unity indicate a good agreement with the attenuation model. -- astro-ph.GA](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Robust-Nitrogen-and-Oxygen.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Accurate chemical compositions of star-forming regions are a critical diagnostic tool to characterize the star formation history and gas flows which regulate galaxy formation.