CCD BV and 2MASS photometric study of the open cluster NGC 1513

We present CCD BV and JHK (s) 2MASS photometric data for the open cluster NGC 1513. We observed 609 stars in the direction of the cluster up to a limiting magnitude of V similar to 19 mag. The star-count method showed that the centre of the cluster lies at alpha (2000)=04 (h) 09 (m) 36 (s) , delta (2000)=49A degrees 28(')43(aEuro3) and its angular size is r=10 arcmin. The optical and near-infrared two-colour diagrams revealed the colour excesses in the direction of the cluster as E(B-V)=0.68 +/- 0.06, E(J-H)=0.21 +/- 0.02 and E(J-K (s) )=0.33 +/- 0.04 mag. These results are consistent with normal interstellar extinction values. Optical and near-infrared Zero Age Main-Sequences (ZAMS) provided an average distance modulus of (m-M)(0)=10.80 +/- 0.13 mag, which can be translated into a distance of 1440 +/- 80 pc. Finally, using Padova isochrones we determined the metallicity and age of the cluster as Z=0.015 +/- 0.004 ([M/H]=-0.10 +/- 0.10 dex) and log (t/yr)=8.40 +/- 0.04, respectively.