Luminosity and mass function of the galactic open cluster ngc 2422

Apr, 2003
12 pages
Published in:
  • Astron.Astrophys. 404 (2003) 927-938
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Abstract: (arXiv)
We present UBVRI photometry of the open cluster NGC 2422 (age 108\sim 10^8 yr) down to a limiting magnitude V19V\simeq19. These data are used to derive the Luminosity and Mass Functions and to study the cluster spatial distribution. By considering the color-magnitude diagram data and adopting a representative cluster main sequence, we obtained a list of candidate cluster members based on a photometric criterion. Using a reference field region and an iterative procedure, a correction for contaminating field stars has been derived in order to obtain the Luminosity and the Mass Functions in the M=0.43.5MM=0.4-3.5 M_\odot range. By fitting the spatial distribution, we infer that a non-negligible number of cluster stars lies outside our investigated region. We have estimated a correction to the Mass Function of the cluster in order to take into account the missing cluster stars. The Present Day Mass Function of \ngc2422 can be represented by a power-law of index α=3.07±0.08\alpha = 3.07 \pm0.08 (rms) -- the Salpeter Mass Function in this notation has index α=2.35\alpha = 2.35 -- in the mass range 0.9M/M2.5 0.9 \leq M/M_\odot\leq 2.5 . The index α\alpha and the total mass of the cluster are very similar to those of the Pleiades.