Abundances & RVs for stars near (or in) NGC6273

NGC 6273 has only recently been recognized as a member of this "iron-complex" cluster class, and we provide here a chemical and kinematic analysis of >300 red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch member stars using high-resolution spectra obtained with the Magellan-M2FS and VLT-FLAMES instruments.

Multiple lines of evidence indicate that NGC 6273 possesses an intrinsic metallicity spread that ranges from about [Fe/H]=-2 to -1 dex, and may include at least three populations with different [Fe/H] values. The three populations identified here contain separate first (Na/Al-poor) and second (Na/Al-rich) generation stars, but a Mg-Al anti-correlation may only be present in stars with [Fe/H]>~-1.65. The strong correlation between [La/Eu] and [Fe/H] suggests that the s-process must have dominated the heavy element enrichment at higher metallicities.