Star clusters in the Carina complex:: UBV RI photometry of NGC 3114, Collinder 228 and vdB-Hagen 99

In this paper we present and analyze CCD UBVRI photometry in the region of the three young open clusters NGC 3114, Collinder 228, and vdB-Hagen 99, located in the Carina spiral feature. NGC 3114 lies in the outskirts of the Carina nebula. We found 7 star members in a severely contaminated field, and obtain a distance of 950 pc and an age less than 3 x 10(8) yrs. Collinder 228 is a younger cluster (8 x 10(6) yrs), located in front of the Carina nebula complex, for which we identify 11 new members and suggest that 30% of the stars are probably binaries. As for vdB-Hagen 99, we add 4 new members, confirming that it is a nearby cluster located at 500 pc from the Sun and projected toward the direction of the Carina spiral arm.