1 Introduction

Terzan 3 and IC 1276 (Palomar 7) are globular clusters projected on the outskirts of the bulge, and the latter cluster is not far from the Galactic plane. Not much information is available for them, in particular there are no Colour-Magnitude Diagrams (CMD) available in the literature.

Terzan 3 was discovered by Terzan (1968) at the Haute-Provence Observatory. It is also known as ESO 390-SC6, GCL B1625-3514 and is located at $\alpha_{1950}$ = 16$\rm ^h$ 25$\rm ^m$22.9$\rm ^s$, $\delta_{1950} = -35^\circ$ 14' 37'' ($l = 345.077^\circ$, $b = +9.187^\circ$).

From the bright giants method Webbink (1985) estimated a horizontal branch (HB) level $V_{\rm HB}$ = 18.8, a reddening E(B-V) = 0.32 from the modified cosecant law, and a distance from the Sun $d_{\odot}$ = 27.2 kpc. The recent compilation by Harris (1996) lists $d_{\odot}$ = 25.2 kpc, E(B-V) = 0.32, and $V_{\rm HB}$ = 18.8. To our knowledge, no metallicity estimates are given in the literature. The cluster is very loose and Harris (1996) gives a concentration parameter c = 0.70.

IC 1276, also designated as Palomar 7, GCL-90 (Alter et al. 1970) and GCL B1625-3514, is located at $\alpha_{1950}$ = 18$\rm ^h$ 08$\rm ^m$02$\rm ^s$, $\delta_{1950} = -07^\circ$ 13' 08'' ($l = 21.832^\circ$, $b = +5.669^\circ$).

The cluster is loose with a concentration parameter c = 1.29, with a core radius $r\rm _c = 65''$ and half light radius $r\rm _h = 141''$ (Trager et al. 1995).

Webbink (1985) gives $V_{\rm HB}$ = 18.5, E(B-V) = 0.92 deduced from integrated colours, a distance from the Sun $d_{\odot}$ = 9.8 kpc and [Fe/H] = -0.84, whereas Harris (1996) reports $d_{\odot}$ = 8.9 kpc, E(B-V) = 0.92 and $V_{\rm HB}$ = 18.4.

Five variable stars were found in the cluster field by Kinman & Rosino (1962). One of them is a RR Lyrae, located close to the cluster center, and the other four are semi-regular or long period variables at about $r \approx 3' - 5'$ from the cluster center.

In the present study we report B, V photometry for Terzan 3 and IC 1276, in order to determine their basic parameters, in particular their location in the Galaxy and an estimation of metallicity. Given the relatively large angular distance from the Galactic center of 17.5$^\circ$ and 22.6$^\circ$ for Terzan 3 and IC 1276 respectively, it is important to verify if they are bulge clusters. In Barbuy et al. (1998) we gathered our series of CMD parameter derivations for essentially all clusters within a radius of 5$^\circ$ of the Galactic center, providing for the first time a reliable picture of the spatial distribution of these objects. The study of Terzan 3 and IC 1276 is part of a sample in a wider angular distribution where it is important to check which clusters belong to the bulge.

In Sect. 2 the observations are described. In Sects. 3 and 4 we study Terzan 3 and IC 1276 respectively. In Sect. 5 the cluster ages are discussed and in Sect. 6 the concluding remarks are given.