Abundances of red giants in old open clusters. II. Berkeley 17

We present an analysis of high-dispersion echelle spectra of three giant stars in the 10 Gyr open cluster Berkeley 17 obtained with the KPNO 4 m Telescope. Abundances were determined relative to the bright, somewhat metal-poor disk giant Arcturus. Be 17 is found to have a mean [Fe/H] = - 0.10 +/- 0.09 ( rms). Oxygen abundances, determined from the forbidden [O I] lines, and the alpha-elements Mg, Ca, and Ti show scaled solar abundance ratios, while the Si abundance is slightly enhanced. The odd-Z elements Na and Al are significantly enhanced relative to scaled solar abundances. These abundance patterns are similar to those seen in other old open clusters and suggest that the Galactic disk was enriched to solar abundance levels at very early times.