Improved $^{\bf 3}$He Abundances in HII Regions
Session 92 -- Dust and Gas in the ISM
Oral presentation, Friday, January 14, 10:15-11:45, Salon VI Room (Crystal Gateway)

## [92.03] Improved $^{\bf 3}$He Abundances in HII Regions

D.S.Balser, T.M.Bania (Boston Univ.), R.T.Rood (Univ. of Virginia), T.L.Wilson (MPIfR)

Numerical models have been developed to improve the $^{3}$He measurements discussed by Bania et al. at this meeting. A triad of observations have been used to constrain these models. Continuum snapshots'' have been taken with the VLA in D-array at X band to provide information at a high angular resolution. The MPIfR 100 m telescope has also been used to map the extended continuum emission of these regions. Lastly, as a byproduct of the NRAO 43 m $^{3}$He$^{+}$ observations, many radio recombination lines have been simultaneously measured. These observations provide information about the electron temperature and small-scale density clumping. This ongoing work should yield $^{3}$He abundances with an accuracy of 10\% for some sources. The implications of these results are reported by Rood et al. at this meeting.