et al. 2002). Dots represent all [*photometric*]{} cluster candidates within 15 arcminutes of the X-ray pointing. []{data-label="vbvcmd"}](vbvcmd.ps){width="84mm"}

![V,V-I diagram for X-ray selected members of NGC 2547. Symbols as for Fig. 1. The isochrone is derived as for Fig. \[vbvcmd\], but this time an age of 25Myr gives a better fit (see Jeffries & Oliveira 2005). []{data-label="vvicmd"}](vvicmd.ps){width="84mm"}

![I,R-I diagram for X-ray selected members of NGC 2547. Symbols as for Fig. 1. The isochrone is derived as for Fig. \[vbvcmd\], but using an age of 25Myr. []{data-label="iricmd"}](iricmd.ps){width="84mm"}

Spectral Analysis
=================

X-ray spectra {#spectra}
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![Examples of one and two component thermal models (as described in the text) fitted to the pn data of star number 3. []{data-label="specfig"}](3_1T.ps "fig:"){width="84mm"} ![Examples of one and two component thermal models (as described in the text) fitted to the pn data of star number 3. []{data-label="specfig"}](3_2T.ps "fig:"){width="84mm"}

Ten cluster candidates were chosen for a detailed spectroscopic examination. These ten sources were those with the largest number of detected X-ray photons, with 300-670 counts in the pn detector and 230-530 counts in the MOS1/MOS2 detectors respectively. Source spectra of these stars were extracted from circular or elliptical regions with radii $\simeq 12$ arc sec. This relatively small extraction 