Barium in Cepheids: new data on the abundance distribution in the Galactic disc

Using an Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) analysis and a homogenous spectral data base, we have determined Ba abundances in a sample of 210 Galactic Cepheids and related objects. We confirm the previous result reported in Andrievsky et al. that the barium distribution in the range of Galactocentric distances from 5 to 18 kpc shows very small gradient value. The value determined here - d[Ba/H]/dR approximate to -0.01 dex kpc(-1) - is smaller than that for other s-process elements, such as La, Pr, Nd and Sm (Luck & Lambert), that typically show gradients of -0.03 dex kpc(-1).