We present UBVRI photometry of the open cluster NGC 2422 ( age \sim~ { } 10 ^ { 8 } yr ) down to a limiting magnitude V \simeq 19 .
These data are used to derive the Luminosity and Mass Functions and to study the cluster spatial distribution .
By considering the color-magnitude diagram data and adopting a representative cluster main sequence , we obtained a list of candidate cluster members based on a photometric criterion .
Using a reference field region and an iterative procedure , a correction for contaminating field stars has been derived in order to obtain the Luminosity and the Mass Functions in the M = 0.4 - 3.5 ~ { } M _ { \odot } range .
By fitting the spatial distribution , we infer that a non-negligible number of cluster stars lies outside our investigated region .
We have estimated a correction to the Mass Function of the cluster in order to take into account the ” missing ” cluster stars .
The Present Day Mass Function of NGC 2422 can be represented by a power-law of index \alpha = 3.07 \pm 0.08 ( rms ) – the Salpeter Mass Function in this notation has index \alpha = 2.35 – in the mass range 0.9 \leq M / M _ { \odot } \leq 2.5 .
The index \alpha and the total mass of the cluster are very similar to those of the Pleiades .