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The Lick Northern Proper Motion (NPM) program measures absolute proper motions, positions, and photographic photometry for $\sim 300,000$ stars with $8 \leq B \leq 18$ in 1,246 $6\deg \times 6\deg$ fields covering the sky north of declination $-23\deg$. Each NPM field was photographed with the Lick 51~cm Carnegie double astrograph at two epochs between 1947 and 1988. The NPM1 Catalog presents the data for the first part of the NPM program, 149,000 stars in 899 fields outside the Milky Way. A second catalog (NPM2) will cover the NPM Milky Way fields. The Yale Southern Proper Motion (SPM) program will complete the southern sky. The rms errors of the NPM absolute proper motions are $\sim 0.5 \arcsec$ cent$^{-1}$. The rms position errors average $\sim 0.15 \arcsec$. The rms photometry errors average $\sim 0.2$ mag in $B$ and $\sim 0.15$ mag in $B-V$.
Included in the NPM1 Catalog are 94,000 anonymous stars for astrometric and galactic studies, 28,000 positional reference stars, and 27,000 stars chosen for astrophysical interest. The NPM1 Catalog will serve as a database for many studies of stellar populations and kinematics, galactic rotation, statistical parallax luminosity calibrations, the correction to precession, and other astrometric applications. Several of these studies are already underway.
The NPM1 proper motions were measured with respect to an absolute reference frame defined by 50,000 faint galaxies (mostly $16 < B < 18$). A companion catalog, the NPM1 Reference Galaxy List, gives positions $(\pm \sim 0.2 \arcsec)$ and $B$ magnitudes $(\pm ~0.25$ mag) for these galaxies.
The Lick NPM program is supported by NSF grant AST~92-18084.
