Young Galactic globular clusters II. The case of Palomar 12

We present broadband V,I CCD photometry for ca. 1700 stars towards the Galactic globular cluster Palomar 12, covering a field of 10.7' x 10.7'. From these data, a color-magnitude diagram from the red giant branch tip to ca. 2 mag below the cluster's turn-off is obtained. From a comparison with the color magnitude diagrams of 47 Tuc and M5, and using different theoretical models, we confirm that Pal 12 is younger, finding an age 68% +/- 10% that of both template clusters. Revised structural parameters are also obtained: r(c) = 37.8 +/- 0.6 and c = 1.08 +/- 0.02.