8620 DIB equivalent width and extinction

Based on our photometry and data collected from other sources, we have derived a reddening law for the cluster line-of-sight representative of the Galactic plane (-5{deg}<b<+5{deg}) in the window 0.4-4.8um. The power-law exponent alpha=2.13+/-0.08 is much steeper than those published a decade ago (1.6-1.8) and our index RV=2.50+/-0.04 also differs from them, but in very good agreement with recent works based on deep surveys in the inner Galaxy.

As a consequence, the total extinction AKs=0.74+/-0.08 (AV=11.40+/-2.40) is substantially smaller than previous results (0.91-1.13), part of which (AKs=0.63 or AV=9.66) is from the interstellar medium. The extinction in front of the cluster spans a range of AV~8.7 with a gradient increasing from SW to NE across the cluster face, following the same general trend of warm dust distribution. The map of the J-Ks colour index also shows a trend of reddening in this direction.