Spectroscopy of stars in 6 globular clusters

Spectra were also obtained for a number of red giants in standard globular clusters to provide a calibration of the observed line strengths with overall abundance [Fe/H]. For the 41 M22 member stars that lie within the V-V_HB_ bounds of the calibration, we find an abundance distribution that is substantially broader than that expected from the observed errors alone.

We argue that this broad distribution cannot be the result of differential reddening. Instead, we conclude that, as has long been suspected, M22 is similar to {omega} Cen in having an intrinsic dispersion in heavy element abundance. The observed M22 abundance distribution rises sharply to a peak at [Fe/H]~-1.9 with a broad tail to higher abundances: the highest abundance star in our sample has [Fe/H] ~-1.45dex.