Gaseous abundances in NGC3256

We have started a project aimed at measuring the ISM enrichment in a starburstepisode, by comparing IRderived stellar metallicities with Xray derivedgaseous ones. First results obtained from archival XMM data are promising, butare severely hampered by low statistics and leave several issues still unsolved.We propose to use the RGS onboard XMM to obtain high quality Xray spectra ofthe starburst galaxy NGC3256, in order to derive hot gas abundances and tracingthe ISM enrichment from the last burst of star formation. We also propose toobtain VLTISAAC IR spectra to measure the stellar abundances of NGC3256 and theISM enrichment prior to the last burst of star formation. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]