CCD BVR photometry of the open cluster IC 1311

Six CCD frames for two fields in the area of the rich, presumably old, and unstudied open cluster IC 1311 have been obtained in the BVR bands. The photometric analysis leads to an estimated age of between 1 Gyr (standard models) and 2 Gyr (overshooting models), placing the cluster at a distance of ≈4.8 kpc from the Sun. Comparison of the observational color-magnitude diagram (CMD) with model isochrones produces a good fit for a metallicity of Z = 0.006-0.008. Some morphological features displayed by the CMD of this cluster are better understood in terms of convective overshooting rather than by classical theories. The location of IC 1311 on the age-metallicity diagram suggests an ecological environment for its formation more similar to that found in the LMC than in the solar vicinity.