ISO has shown the need to obtain a reliable calibration network of good pedigree to permit data from a wide range of instruments, covering an enormous wavelength range, to be calibrated on a consistent scale. We describe the first results of a programme to extend the Landolt calibration standards to at least V=19. At the same time we calibrate into

Elmer is a visible imager-spectrograph currently scheduled to be in operation at the GTC on Day One. The instrument will allow imaging over a 4.2 arcminute field of view, and spectroscopy with resolutions from about 100 to over 2000, as well as fast photometry options.

OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy) is designed as an optical Day One instrument for the GTC. This versatile instrument will be able to perform broad band and tunable filter imaging, low resolution long slit and multiple-object spectroscopy, and fast spectrophotometry. In this paper we outline the main

We conduct a detailed comparison between the kinematics, morpology and excitation conditions of the RW Aur microjet on scales < 200 AU with predictions from stationary, self-similar, cold disk wind solutions. Implications for launching and ionization mechanisms of jets in young stars are discussed.

Using archival HST/WFPC2 imaging of 7 LMC globular clusters, and following the methods outlined in our previous study, we have reached the tightest constrain so far on their age dispersion, which cannot be greater than ~ 0.5 Gyr. We also confirm earlier results that their average age is comparable to that of the metal-poor Galactic globulars