The third edition of the Calar Alto Newsletter introduces two long-term projects which are being carried out at the observatory. MUNICS, the MUnich Near-IR Cluster Survey, described by Niv Drory and collaborators. and WeCAPP, the Wendelstein Calar Alto Pixellensing Project presented by Arno Riffeser and collaborators, are very nice examples of cutting edge science which may be performed with medium-sized telescopes, given a long-term, continuous access to the telescope is guaranteed. The article by Gorosabel and collaborators provides other example where frontier science is performed on a 4m class telescope. In the latter case, it was the fast access to the 2.2m telescope via a Target of Opportunity Observation which led to the discovery of the optical counterpart of the Gamma Ray Burst GRB000926.

All three programmes add weight to our arguments that (telescope) size is not everything, and that medium-sized (2-4m) telescopes are required in the future to pursue cutting edge science. What is required, however, is that the the role of the multi-purpose telescope which can sing and dance is re-evaluated. Calar Alto is involved in the OPTICON network which searches a co-ordination of telescope operation and telescope instrumentation at different observatories. This will allow each observatory to focus on its particular strengths, while assuring a comprehensive instrumentation complement across the network. The next OPTICON meeting is scheduled March 14-18 in Aguadulce/Almeria, with participation from PPARC, IAC, ESO, CNRS/INSU, and others.

A European wide collaboration among different observatories will cause synergies which will enhance productivity at each site. We are aware, however, that a more cost-efficient operation of Calar Alto will not only result from such a collaboration. The scientific productivity of Calar Alto is very low, and it is painfully described again in a recent article by Benn & Sanchez. We have taken measures to improve this situation. Firstly, we are actively trying to remove the causes of the annoying seeing degradations which affect observations at the 3.5m telescope. Steps forward are described in an article below. Secondly, we are trying to compensate the weather losses which affect a large number of scientific programmes carried out on Calar Alto (cf observing statistics July - December 2000 given below). To that extent, we aim to schedule less programmes per semester, and to guarantee via service observations and a more flexible scheduling that scheduled programmes receive their complete data sets. The Calar Alto astronomy group is working actively on calibration procedures of the various instruments, which will help to acquire a deeper understanding of the instruments and the various observing strategies.

This newsletter also introduces BUSCA, a camera designed for simultaneous four color photometry in a 12' FOV. BUSCA is operated at the 2.2m telescope. Given a successful commissioning in April 2001, BUSCA should be offered as a regular instrument in the first semester of 2002.