Optical and Near Infrared Study of the Open Cluster Czernik 17

In this paper we present the fundamental physical parameters of the poorly studied open cluster Czernik 17. The parameters have been derived from the UBVRI CCD photometric observations obtained with the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope as well as using data taken from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey. This cluster is located in the direction of Camelopardalis constellation with a radial extent of 4' and is estimated to be at a distance of 7 + or - 0.5 kpc. The interstellar extinction in the line of sight of the cluster is found to be E (B - V) = 0.72 + or -0.05 mag. Based on the evolutionary stage of the evolved stars the log(age) of the cluster is found to be 8.05 to 8.1 making it a relatively young cluster which can be considered as a spiral arm tracer of the outer arm. We have constructed the luminosity function for the stars within the adopted cluster radius which shows the common trend of the number of stars increasing toward the fainter magnitudes. We also find the presence of Bohm-Vitense gaps in the main-sequence branch of the color-magnitude diagrams of this cluster which may be attributed to surface convection which has the effect of making the stars redder although the luminosity remains unchanged.