Theoretical He I line intensities in gaseous nebulae: NGC 1976, 6572 and IC 4997

Smits has recently calculated theoretical He I intensities for a large number of lines for conditions appropriate to gaseous nebulae. These are likely to remain the definitive calculations for some time to come. A comparison of these line ratios with observed values in three nebulae reveals some discrepancies. We show that these discrepancies are reduced when collisional effects from the metastable 2(3)S level are included, and that it is not necessary to invoke an unknown depopulation mechanism for the He I 2(3)S level.