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S. C. Balachandran (U. Maryland)
Oxygen is the most abundant element after hydrogen and helium. It is therefore important in numerous astrophysical contexts such as the ages of globular clusters and the understanding of early nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy. Despite its large abundance and known importance, the abundance of oxygen has proved difficult to measure leading to the current debate on whether [O/Fe] increases with decreasing metallicity or whether it flattens out at metallicities below -1.0. In this talk I will review problems associated with measuring oxygen from optical and near-UV lines, suggest why infrared features may provide more reliable results and address the value of the oxygen abundance at low metallicities with data from a few key stars.