Determination of [O/Fe] in BD+23 3130 from ESO VLT-UVES observations

We report a new determination of [O/Fe], the relative logarithmic abundance of O/Fe with respect to the Sun, for the very metal-poor star BD +23 3130 ([Fe/H] = -2.6). The value was derived from the forbidden line [O I] at 630 nm and from six weak Fe III lines, with a SIN ratio substantially larger t han those obtained before, thanks to the efficiency of the VLT-UVES instrum ent at Paranal. We obtain [O/Fe]=0.71 +/-0.25, a value 0.36 dex higher than the value obtained from the same lines by Fulbright and Kraft [AJ 118 (199 9) 527], but 0.46 lower than the one derived by Israelian et al. [ApJ 507 ( 1998) 805] from the UV OH bands. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.