Deep multicolor CGD photometry of the globular cluster NGC 6723

We have obtained CCD UBVRI photometry of 3620 stars in the globular cluster NGC 6723, one of the few globular clusters with a horizontal branch well-p opulated on both sides of the instability strip. This is the first deep fiv e-color study of NGC 6723. We have determined several important parameters for this cluster. Its color excess is E(B - V) = 0.11+/-0.01. The most plau sible value of metallicity is [Fe/H] = -1.22 +/- 0.15; even lower values ar e possible. The apparent distance modulus of the cluster is (m - M)(V,6723) = 14.76. From isochrone analysis, are prefer the NGC 6723 age in the range between 15 and 16 Gyr, in the scale of Bergbusch & VandenBerg (1992). We f ind a close similarity of the shape and slope of the red giant branch in NG C 6723 and M 3 and of the magnitude difference between the main-sequence tu rnoff and the horizontal branch in NGC 6723, M 3, and M 5.