Near-Infrared photometry of the LMC cluster Reticulum

We present U, B, V, I (SUSI@NTT) and J, Ks (SOFI@NTT) photometry of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) cluster Reticulum. The observing strategy and data reduction (DAOPHOTII/ALLFRAME) allowed us to reach an accuracy of the order of 0.01 - 0.03 mag in all the bands at limiting magnitudes typical of RR Lyrae stars. Reticulum hosts a sizable sample of RR Lyrae stars (32), and we supply an accurate distance estimate using the RR Lyrae K-band Period-Luminosity-Metallicity (PLZK) relation. This method presents several advantages when compared with the MV vs [Fe/H] relation, since it is only marginally affected by off-ZAHB evolutionary effects and reddening corrections