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The LMC hosts a rich variety of star clusters seen in close projectedproximity. Ages have been derived for few of them showing differences up to fewmillion years, hinting at being binary star clusters. However, finalconfirmation needs to be done through spectroscopic analysis. Here we focus onthe LMC cluster pair NGC2006-SL538 and aim to determine whether the starcluster pair is a bound entity (binary star cluster) or a chance alignment.Using the MIKE echelle spectrograph at LCO we have acquired integrated-lightspectra for each cluster. We have measured radial velocities by two methods: a)direct line profile measurement yields v$_r=300.3\pm5\pm6$ km/s for NGC2006 and$v_r=310.2\pm4\pm6$ km/s for SL538. b) By comparing observed spectra withsynthetic bootstrapped spectra yielding $v_r=311.0\pm0.6$ km/s for NGC2006 and$v_r=309.4\pm0.5$ km/s for SL538. Finally when spectra are directly compared,we find a ${\Delta}v=1.08\pm0.47$ km/s. Full-spectrum SED fits reveal that thestellar population ages lie in the range 13-21 Myr with a metallicity ofZ=0.008. We find indications for differences in the chemical abundance patternsas revealed by the helium absorption lines between the two clusters. Thedynamical analysis shows that the two clusters are likely to merge within thenext $\sim$150 Myr. The NGC2006-SL538 cluster pair shows radial velocities,stellar population and dynamical parameters consistent with a gravitationalbound entity. We conclude that this is a genuine binary cluster pair, and wepropose that their differences in ages and stellar population chemistry is mostlikely due to variances in their chemical enrichment history within theirenvironment. We suggest that their formation may have taken place in a looselybound star-formation complex which saw initial fragmentation but then had itsclusters become a gravitationally bound pair by tidal capture.

On Collision Course: The Nature of the Binary Star Cluster NGC 2006 / SL 538