THE RISE AND FAIL OF THE NAMGAL STARS

We have made new abundance determinations for a sample of NaMgAl stars . These stars, which are a subgroup of the nearby metal-rich field F a nd G disk dwarfs, were first identified by Edvardsson et al. (1993) on the basis of their apparent enrichment in Na, Mg and Al relative to o ther elements. The discovery of a planetary companion to the nearby so lar type star 51 Peg (Mayor & Queloz 1995) combined with Edvardsson et al.'s earlier identification of 51 Peg as a NaMgAl star highlighted t he group's potential importance. Our new analysis, which uses new spec tra of higher resolution and better wavelength coverage than the analy sis of Edvardsson et al., shows that the Na, Mg and Al abundances of t he NaMgAl stars are indistinguishable from those of non-NaMgAl stars w ith otherwise similar properties. The group thus appears to be spuriou s. Our study, which includes 51 Peg, also provides the most complete s et of abundances for this star available to date. The new Fe abundance , [Fe/H] = +0.20 +/- 0.07, of 51 Peg confirms earlier measurements of its metal richness. Abundances for 19 other elements, including C, N a nd O, reveal a fairly uniform enrichment similar to that of Fe and sho w no evidence of abnormality compared to other metal rich stars of sim ilar spectral type.