Measurements are presented and analysed of the strength of the CaII triplet lines in red giants in Galactic globular and open clusters, and in a sample of red giants in the LMC disc that have significantly different [Ca/Fe] abundance ratios to the Galactic objects. The Galactic objects are used to generate a calibration between CaII triplet line strength and [Fe/H], which is then used to estimate [Fe/H]CaT for the LMC stars. The values are then compared with the [Fe/H]spec determinations from high-dispersion spectroscopy. After allowance for a small systematic offset, the two abundance determinations are in excellent agreement. Further, as found in earlier studies, the difference is only a very weak function of the [Ca/Fe] ratio. For example, changing [Ca/Fe] from +0.3 to -0.2 causes the CaII-based abundance to underestimate [Fe/H]spec by only ~0.15dex, assuming a Galactic calibration. Consequently, the CaII triplet approach to metallicity determinations can be used without significant bias to study stellar systems that have substantially different chemical evolution histories.

Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/455/199/clusters (List of studied clusters)

Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/455/199/table3 (Observational data for cluster member stars)