Study of young open clusters as tracers of spiral features in our Galaxy. IV - Czernik 20 (OC1 427)

Abstract

Photoelectric and photographic photometry of 72 stars was done in the field of the not-well-studied open cluster Czernik 20 in the direction of the Auriga constellation. Of these stars, a total of 43 have been found to be probable members down to m(v) = 15.75 mag. There is apparently a variable extinction across the field of the cluster with E(B-V) ranging from 0.53 to 0.38 mag. The cluster stars show a range in their ages from 10 to 71 Myr, indicating that Czernik 20 is young enough to be considered as a spiral-arm tracer in the study of the Galaxy. The distance of this cluster is found to be 4.27 + or - 0.14 kpc and it is located inside the outer Perseus arm of the Galaxy.