Early-type stars in the open cluster NGC 4852

The southern open cluster NGC 4852 was re-observed in the UBVRI passbands to refine its intrinsic fundamental parameters. An extended spectral coverage was also undertaken aimed at obtaining a clear picture of the kind of stars inhabiting the cluster upper main sequence. We detected an unusual number of B-type stars including a new weak-emission Be star that raises to three the number of confirmed emission objects known in the cluster area. Our analysis, however, is conclusive in that none of them belongs to the cluster. With the new data set, we improved the fundamental parameters of NGC 4852: it is little bit farther than formerly assumed; the reddening, which increases smoothly with the distance, is lower than early estimates; and more importantly, it is really a young object of nearly 40-60 Myr, contrary to the age of 200 Myr stated before. By means of spectroscopic parallaxes we secured the star distances, finding a good agreement between spectroscopic and zero-age main-sequence fitting distances, within the errors. The spatial distribution of the stars allows us to infer that NGC 4852 is the final, closer to the Sun, structure of a star-forming region and that a distant group of early-B-type stars, located immediately beyond the cluster, seems to be part of an extended OB association. The three emission stars detected in the region are related to this farther group. Finally, two extremely faint and blue stars were also found in the cluster zone. They have no connection with NGC 4852 but seem to be white-dwarf candidates.