Mapping the ionized gas properties of Mrk 1044. The top-left panel shows the flux contours of the HST WFC3/UVIS image which capture the spiral dust absorption features. The bottom-left panel contains the outer contours where Hα surface brightness exceeds 3 × 10⁻¹⁸ erg s⁻¹ cm⁻² which indicates the core region of enhanced narrow Hα emission. Here and in the following we show both contours as a reference for the size of the structures identified. The surface brightness maps for the prominent narrow emission lines after subtracting the AGN emission are shown in (a)–(d). The maps were spatially coadded by 2 × 2 pixels and 8 × 8 pixels for regions where the S/N of the emission line is < 3. The LOS velocity (e) and velocity dispersion (f) of Mrk 1044’s ionized gas appear quiescent. Panel g shows the BPT diagram for Mrk 1044’s central region for 8 × 8 spatially coadded spaxels. The gray star shows Mrk 1044’s position based on its AGN-contaminated 3″ aperture spectrum. The empirical demarcation lines from Kauffmann et al. (2003; continuous), Kewley et al. (2001; dashed), and Cid Fernandes et al. (2010; dotted) define classifications as star-forming, composite (inter), and low-ionization nuclear emission region (LINER) and AGN-ionized regions, respectively. Already the AGN-blended 3″ spectrum is located in the star-forming regime. For the AGN-subtracted cube, all spaxels as well as the 05-integrated host component are consistent with excitation by SF. Panel h shows the spatial distribution of the excitation mechanism. Mrk 1044 is ionized by SF, even in the immediate vicinity of its nucleus.