We report on a new , wide field ( 20 ^ { \prime } \times 20 ^ { \prime } ) , multicolor ( UBVI ) , photometric campaign in the area of the nearby old open cluster NGC 2112 .
At the same time , we provide medium-resolution spectroscopy of 35 ( and high-resolution of additional 5 ) Red Giant and Turn Off stars .
This material is analyzed with the aim to update the fundamental parameters of this traditionally difficult cluster , which is very sparse and suffers from heavy field star contamination .
Among the 40 stars with spectra , we identified 21 bona fide radial velocity members which allow us to put more solid constraints on the cluster ’ s metal abundance , long suggested to be as low as the metallicity of globulars .
As indicated earlier by us on a purely photometric basis ( Carraro et al .
2002 ) , the cluster [ Fe/H ] abundance is slightly super-solar ( [ Fe/H ] =0.16 \pm 0.03 ) and close to the Hyades value , as inferred from a detailed abundance analysis of 3 of the 5 stars with higher resolution spectra .
Abundance ratios are also marginally super solar . Based on this result , we revise the properties of NGC 2112 using stellar models from the Padova and Yale-Yonsei groups . For this metal abundance , we find the cluster ’ s age , reddening , and distance values are 1.8 Gyr , 0.60 mag , and 940 pc , respectively .
Both the Yale-Yonsei and Padova models predict the same values for the fundamental parameters within the errors . Overall , NGC 2112 is a typical solar neighborhood , thin disk star cluster , sharing the same chemical properties of F-G stars and open clusters close to the Sun . This investigation outlines the importance of a detailed membership analysis in the study of disk star clusters .