VI photometry of open clusters

From the observed V versus V-I diagrams of the clusters, fiducial sequences have been defined and transformed into the M_v_ versus (V-I)_0_ diagram by averaging sequences of template open clusters with similar ages. The resulting composite Mv versus (V-I)_0_ diagram presents a homogeneous set of empirical isochrones in the age range between 5Myr and 4Gyr.

These empirical isochrones show an overall very good agreement with those computed from stellar evolutionary models. Theoretical isochrones with moderate overshooting fit the observed main sequences better than the canonical ones for clusters older than 600Myr. The present set of empirical isochrones will be useful for the study of faint reddened open clusters