Ubvijhk photometric study of the open cluster NGC 2849

We present UBVIJHK photometry of the open cluster NGC 2849. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of this cluster show a well-defined main sequence and a sparse red giant branch. In spite of a relatively large color excess of E(B-V) = 0.50 ± 0.04, our color-color analysis shows that the interstellar reddening toward this cluster is compatible with the standard extinction model. The cluster also has a broad main sequence indicative of binary sequence rather than differential reddening or field contamination, as suggested elsewhere. From the ultraviolet excess, we estimate the metallicity to be [Fe/H] = -0.24 ± 0.12. A distance modulus of (m - M)₀ = 13.93 ± 0.17 is obtained from zero-age main-sequence fitting. A CMD comparison with the Padua theoretical models published by Bertelli and coworkers gives an age of log t = 8.8 ± 0.1.