A comprehensive CCD photometric study of the open cluster NGC 2421

We present the UBVRI CCD photometry in the region of the open cluster NGC 2421. The radius of the cluster is determined as ~3.0 arcmin using a stellar density profile. Our study indicates that the metallicity of the cluster is Z~ 0.004. The reddening E(B-V) = 0.42 +/- 0.05 mag is determined using a two colour (U-B) versus (B-V) diagram. By combining the 2MASS JHK data with the optical data, we determined that E(J-K) = 0.20 +/- 0.20 mag and E(V-K) = 1.15 +/- 0.20 mag for this cluster. Colour-excess diagrams show a normal interstellar extinction law in the direction of the cluster. We determined that the distance of the cluster is 2.2 +/- 0.2 kpc by comparing the zero-age main sequence with the intrinsic colour-magnitude diagram of the cluster. The age of the cluster has been estimated as 80 +/- 20 Myr using the stellar isochrones of metallicity Z= 0.004. The mass function slope x= 1.2 +/- 0.3 has been derived by applying the corrections of field star contamination and data incompleteness. Our analyses indicate that the cluster NGC 2421 is dynamically relaxed.