  The central star of the planetary nebula NGC 1514 is among the visually
brightest central stars in the sky (V=9.5). It has long been known to show a
composite spectrum, consisting of an A-type star and a much hotter star
responsible for the ionization of the surrounding nebula. These two stars have
always been assumed to form a binary system. High-resolution spectrograms
obtained with Espadons at the CFHT on Mauna Kea have allowed to measure good
radial velocities for both stars. They differ by 13 $\pm$ 2 km s$^{-1}$. The
stellar velocities have not changed after 500 days. We have also estimated the
metallicity of the cooler star. Combining these data with other information
available in the literature, we conclude that, unless all the published nebular
radial velocities are systematically wrong, the cooler star is just a chance
alignment, and the two stars are not orbiting each other. The cooler star
cannot have played any role in the formation of NGC 1514.
