NGC 2362:: A template for early stellar evolution

We present UBVRI photometry for the young open cluster NGC 2362. From analysis of the appropriate color-color and color-magnitude diagrams we derive the fundamental parameters of the NGC 2362 cluster to be age = 5(-2)(+1) Myr, distance = 1480 pc, and E(B-V) = 0.10 mag. The cluster age was independently determined for both high-mass (2.1-36 M-.) and low-mass (0.7-1.2 M-.) stars with excellent agreement between the ages derived using post-main-sequence (Girardi et al. 2000) and pre-main-sequence (Baraffe et al. 1998) evolutionary tracks for the high- and low-mass stars, respectively. Analysis of this cluster's color-magnitude diagram reveals a well-defined pre-main sequence (covering DeltaV similar to 9 mag in V and extending from early A stars to near the hydrogen-burning limit), which makes this cluster an ideal laboratory for pre-main-sequence evolution studies.