Massive Stars in Low-metallicity Galaxies in the CLASSY Survey

Rest-frame far-ultraviolet spectra are fundamental to our understanding of star-forming galaxies, providing a unique window on massive star populations (MSs), chemical evolution, feedback processes, and reionization. JWST is ushering in a new era, pushing the FUV frontier beyond z=10. The success of such endeavors hinges on a comprehensive understanding of the MSs and gas conditions that power the observed spectra. The COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY (CLASSY) is a powerful and promising solution providing high-quality, high-resolution FUV spectra of 45 nearby star-forming galaxies. The spectra contain a suite of features that simultaneously characterize the MSs that populate metal-poor galaxies, physical properties of large-scale outflows, and chemical abundance patterns. The CLASSY sample is consistent with the z 0 mass-metallicity relationship and spans 1.5 dex in metallicity. These unique properties make CLASSY the benchmark training set for studies of MSs in star-forming galaxies both across cosmic time and connecting metal-poor to metal-rich populations.