UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA OBSERVATORIES / LICK OBSERVATORY

The Lick Observatory Northern Proper Motion (NPM) Program

The Lick Northern Proper Motion (NPM) program is based on a two-epoch photographic survey of the sky north of -23 degrees declination, conducted with Lick's Carnegie Double Astrograph between 1947 and 1988. The NPM program measured absolute proper motions (with respect to a reference frame defined by distant galaxies), accurate positions, and two-color photographic photometry for some 380,000 stars from 8 < B < 18. The results of the NPM program are divided in two parts: NPM1 covers 72% of the northern sky in 899 fields away from the Milky Way. NPM2 covers the remaining 28% of the northern sky in 347 NPM fields near the plane of the Milky Way.

The 1993 NPM1 Catalog contains 148,940 stars in 114 declination zones from +89 to -23 degrees. The 2003 NPM2 Catalog contains 232,062 stars in 108 zones from +83 to -23 degrees. The NPM Catalogs will serve as a database for research in Galactic structure, stellar kinematics, and astrometry.

A brief Bibliography lists major publications describing and using the NPM program and the NPM Catalogs.

The Lick NPM Catalogs represent more than a half-century of work by three generations of Lick Observatory astronomers, including C.D. Shane, C.A. Wirtanen, S. Vasilevskis, A.R. Klemola, B.F. Jones, and R.B. Hanson. We thank the National Science Foundation for its long-term support of the NPM program.

Robert B. Hanson, e-mail: hanson at ucolick.org

Arnold R. Klemola, e-mail: klemola at ucolick.org

Burton F. Jones, e-mail: jones at ucolick.org

UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

A.R. Klemola also maintains the observing calendars for Lick Observatory and Keck Observatory.

Go to the UCO/Lick Observatory home page.

updated 02/02/2006