Carbon and nitrogen abundances of stellar populations in the globular
  cluster M 2
  We present CH and CN index analysis and C and N abundance calculations based
on the low-resolution blue spectra of red giant branch (RGB) stars in the
Galactic globular cluster NGC 7089 (M 2). Our main goal is to investigate the
C-N anticorrelation for this intermediate metallicity cluster. The data were
collected with DOLORES, the multiobject, low-resolution facility at the
Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. Spectroscopic data were coupled with UV
photometry obtained during the spectroscopic run. We found a considerable
star-to-star variation in both A(C) and A(N) at all luminosities for our sample
of 35 targets. These abundances appear to be anticorrelated, with a hint of
bimodality in the C content for stars with luminosities below the RBG bump
(V~15.7), while the range of variations in N abundances is very large and spans
almost ~ 2 dex. We find additional C depletion as the stars evolve off the RGB
bump, in fairly good agreement with theoretical predictions for metal-poor
stars in the course of normal stellar evolution. We isolated two groups with
N-rich and N-poor stars and found that N abundance variations correlate with
the (U-V) color in the DOLORES color-magnitude diagram (CMD). The V, (U-V) CMD
for this cluster shows an additional RGB sequence, located at the red of the
main RGB and amounting to a small fraction of the total giant population. We
identified two CH stars detected in previous studies in our U, V images. These
stars, which are both cluster members, fall on this redder sequence, suggesting
that the anomalous RGB should have a peculiar chemical pattern. Unfortunately,
no additional spectra were obtained for stars in this previously unknown RGB
branch.
