Age-dating a star-burst with Gemini/CIRPASS observations of the core of M83

We present preliminary results from a set of near-IR integral field spectroscopic observations of the central, star-burst, regions of the barred spiral galaxy M83, obtained with CIRPASS on Gemini-S. We present maps in the Paschen-Beta and [FeII]1.257um emission lines which appear surprisingly different. We outline the procedure in which we will use Paschen-Beta emission line strengths and measures of CO absorption to determine the relative and absolute ages of individual star-forming knots in the central kpc region of M83.