BVI PHOTOMETRIC STUDY OF THE OLD OPEN CLUSTER RUPRECHT 6

We present a BV I optical photometric study of the old open cluster Ruprecht 6 using the data obtained with the SMARTS 1.0 m telescope at the CTIO, Chile. Its color-magnitude diagrams show the clear existence of the main-sequence stars, whose turn-off point is located around $V{\approx}18.45mag$ and $B-V{\approx}0.85mag$. Three red clump (RC) stars are identified at V = 16.00 mag, I = 14.41 mag and B - V = 1.35 mag. From the mean $K_s-band$ magnitude of RC stars ($K_s=12.39{\pm}0.21mag$) in Ruprecht 6 from 2MASS photometry and the known absolute magnitudes of the RC stars ($M_{K_S}=-1.595{\pm}0.025mag$), we obtain the distance modulus to Ruprecht 6 of $(m-M)_0=13.84{\pm}0.21mag$ ($d=5.86{\pm}0.60kpc$). From the ($J-K_s$) and (B - V ) colors of the RC stars, comparison of the (B - V ) and (V - I) colors of the bright stars in Ruprecht 6 with those of the intrinsic colors of dwarf and giant stars, and the PARSEC isochrone fittings, we derive the reddening values of E(B - V ) = 0.42 mag and E(V - I) = 0.60 mag. Using the PARSEC isochrone fittings onto the color-magnitude diagrams, we estimate the age and metallicity to be: $log(t)=9.50{\pm}0.10(t=3.16{\pm}0.82Gyr)$ and $[Fe/H]=-0.42{\pm}0.04dex$. We present the Galactocentric radial metallicity gradient analysis for old (age > 1 Gyr) open clusters of the Dias et al. catalog, which likely follow a single relation of $[Fe/H]=(-0.034{\pm}0.007)R_{GC}+(0.190{\pm}0.080)$ (rms = 0.201) for the whole radial range or a dual relation of $[Fe/H]=(-0.077{\pm}0.017)R_{GC}+(0.609{\pm}0.161)$ (rms = 0.152) and constant ([Fe/H] ~ -0.3 dex) value, inside and outside of RGC ~ 12 kpc, respectively. The metallicity and Galactocentric radius ($13.28{\pm}0.54kpc$) of Ruprecht 6 obtained in this study seem to be consistent with both of the relations.