2003A&A...404..927P

We present UBVRI photometry of the open cluster NGC 2422 (age∼10⁸yr) down to a limiting magnitude V≃19. 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=0.4-3.5M_☉ 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 NGC 2422 can be represented by a power-law of index α=3.07±0.08(rms) - the Salpeter Mass Function in this notation has index α=2.35 - in the mass range 0.9≤M/M_☉≤2.5. The index α and the total mass of the cluster are very similar to those of the Pleiades.