Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 145, 399-403

B and V photometry of the faint open cluster
UKS 2 (BH 66)

E. Bica¹ - S. Ortolani² - B. Barbuy³

Send offprint request: B. Barbuy

1 - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Dept. de Astronomia, CP. 15051, Porto Alegre 91501-970, Brazil
e-mail: bica@if.ufrgs.br
2 - Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy
e-mail: ortolani@pd.astro.it
3 - Universidade de São Paulo, Dept. de Astronomia, CP. 3386, São Paulo 01060-970, Brazil
e-mail: barbuy@orion.iagusp.usp.br

Received March 13; accepted May 30, 2000

Abstract:

Colour-magnitude diagrams are presented for the first time, of the faint southern star cluster UKS 2, which was for a long time reported as a globular cluster candidate.

The V vs. B-V diagrams indicate that UKS 2 is an open cluster with age comparable to that of the Hyades.

It has a reddening of E(B-V) = 0.40 and is located at a distance from the Sun of $d_{\odot}$ $\approx$ 7 kpc. The cluster is located outside the solar radius at galactocentric distance projected on the plane $r_{\rm GC}$$\approx$ 11 kpc, and a height $z \approx -370$ pc.

Key words: open clusters: UKS 2 -- HR diagram