... I will touch upon the following points: ­ fast evolution of the sizes of quiescent (elliptical) galaxies between z = 2 and z = 1; ­ prolonged star formation histories of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group; ­ apparent lack of external sources of cold gas accretion for the nearby spiral galaxies; ­ old stellar ages and magnesium overabundance of the large-scale disks of nearby lenticular galaxies. ... This discovery has challenged the recognized scenarios of elliptical galaxy evolution. ...

... A Splendid Visit to the Star Hill Inn, New Mexico In November I was fortunate to visit, with my wife Carol, one of the southwest's premier astronomy retreats, the Star Hill Inn north of Las Vegas, NM. ... I spent four nights observing under transparent skies which, when cloud free (one of four nights was pristine while the other three were clear about half the night), revealed magnitude 6.5 stars and, for example, M33 as a naked eye object! ... These efforts should not go unnoticed by AAAP members. ...

T HE V I www.vista.ac.uk V ISTA'S ISIBLE & NFRARED S UR VEY T ELESCOPE FOR A STRONOMY .R 1.65DEGREE DIAMETER INFRARED FIELD OF VIEW FEEDS A APID DEEP IR 4- METRE PRIMARY MIRROR AND MEGAPIXEL OBJECTS FOR FOLLOW-UP WITH VLT, AND DIRECTLY STUDY A WIDE VARIETY OF ASTRONOMICAL TOPICS (0.34 PIXEL ) CAMERA (0.85­2.3µm) 64 IMAGING SURVEYS WILL BOTH SELECT . ... As an ESO telescope, VISTA and its large surveys will now be fully exploited by the whole ESO community. ... VISTA Figure 9: Telescope support base. ...