We measure the C+N+O abundance sum in red giant stars in two Galactic globular clusters, NGC 1851 and NGC 6752. NGC 1851 has a split subgiant branch which could be due to different ages or C+N+O content while NGC 6752 is representative of the least complex globular clusters. For NGC 1851 and NGC 6752, we obtain average values of A(C+N+O)=8.16+/-0.10 ({sigma}=0.34) and 7.62+/-0.02 ({sigma}=0.06), respectively. When taking into account the measurement errors, we find a constant C+N+O abundance sum in NGC 6752. The C+N+O abundance dispersion is only 0.06 dex, and such a result requires that the source of the light element abundance variations does not increase the C+N+O sum in this cluster. For NGC 1851, we confirm a large spread in C+N+O. In this cluster, the anomalous RGB has a higher C+N+O content than the canonical RGB by a factor of 4 (~0.6 dex). This result lends further support to the idea that the two subgiant branches in NGC 1851 are roughly coeval, but with different CNO abundances.

Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/446/3319/table2 (Stellar parameters and CNO abundances for NGC 1851)