The first CCD photometric study of the open cluster NGC 744

We present the first CCD photometric observations of open cluster NGC 744, as part of the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey. The color-magnitude diagrams of this cluster were derived from absolute BV RI photometry on a good photometric night. A brief isochrone fitting gives a distance modulus of (m - M) _V = 11.58 ± 0.2 and a reddening of E(B - V) = 0.35 ± 0.05 with an age of log t = 8.30 ± 0.05. By carefully examining the BV time-series data, we discovered four new variable stars in a 20‧ × 20‧ field around the cluster. We classified them as three eclipsing binary stars and one δ Scuti pulsating star, mainly based on the light-curve shape, the detected periods and the positions on the color-magnitude diagrams.