HST survey of the young stellar cluster NGC2024

We detect 812 point sources, 550 of them in all three filters with signal-to-noise ratio greater than 5. Using a distance-independent two-color diagram, we determine extinction values as high as A_V_~40.

We also find that the change of effective wavelengths in our filters results in higher AV values as the reddening increases. Reconstructing a dereddened color-magnitude diagram, we derive a luminosity histogram both for the full sample of candidate cluster members and for an extinction-limited subsample containing the 50% of sources with A_V_<~15. Assuming a standard extinction law like Cardelli+ 1989ApJ...345..245C with a nominal R_V_=3.1, we produce a luminosity function in good agreement with the one resulting from a Salpeter-like initial mass function for a 1 Myr isochrone.