As a preparation to the HIPPARCOS mission,
a large observing programme on NLTT stars
(propermotion > 0.18 ″/yr) was started in
Genevaphotometry. The original programme consists
of 10047 stars brighter than mR = 11.5, or mR =
12.5 if of colour class m. Among them, 7813
targets could be included in the HIPPARCOS
programme, selected according to their
observability and internal priorities in favour of
large parallaxe stars (photometric distances <
100 pc) and high-velocity stars. The bulk of new
nearby, halo, mild-metal poor and SMR stars in the
HIP Catalogue originates from this proposal
(N° 139). No less than
208 new nearby stars with π ≥ 40 mas were
discovered south of δ
+10°, the closest has π(HIP)= 182 mas. Radial
velocities were obtained with CORAVEL at OHP and
ESO. Most aspects of the early evolution of the
Galaxy may be addressed with this sample. Here we
discuss, as examples, the ages of the thick disk
and of the galactic bulge.
R Coronae Borealis stars in the Galactic bulge discovered by EROS-2