Abstract

We present a new photometry of the Small Magellanic Cloud star cluster NGC 458 in UBVI filters. We determine the reddening E(B - V) = 0.04 ± 0.02. By comparison with the isochrones by Bertelli et al. (1994) we derive an age of ? 140 Myr. Three candidate blue straggler stars are proposed. The evolved "blue loop" stars of NGC 458 have masses between 4 and 5 M? and are hotter than model predictions.