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Description
We present new UBV photoelectric observations of 119 stars in the field of the southern open cluster IC 2488, supplemented by DDO and Washington photometry and Coravel radial velocities for a sample of red giant candidates. Nearly 50% of the stars sampled - including three red giants and one blue straggler - are found to be probable cluster members. Photometric membership probabilities of the red giant candidates show good agreement with those obtained from Coravel data. A mean radial velocity of -2.63+/-0.06km/s is derived for the cluster giants. The reddening across the cluster is found to be uniform, the mean value being E(B-V)=0.24+/-0.04. IC 2488, located at a distance of (1250+/-120) pc from the Sun and 96 pc below the Galactic plane, is most probably not related to the planetary nebula ESO 166-PN21. A metal abundance [Fe/H]=0.10+/-0.06 relative to the Sun is determined from DDO data of the red giant members, in good agreement with the [Fe/H] values derived from five independent Washington abundance indices. An age of 180Myr is determined from the fitting of isochrones computed with convective overshooting for Z=0.019. The isochrone for logt=8.25 reproduces remarkably well not only the morphology of the upper main sequence but also the observed red giant pattern.
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