Canadian astronomy looks to Europe and invests in the world’s largest telescope

By UdeMnouvelles May 14th, 2026

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In 5 seconds Backed by $22.6 million from Canada, the CFI and three provinces, UdeM is co-leading the Canadian research team helping design the ANDES instrument for the European Extremely Large Telescope.

ANDES, which will be installed on the European Southern Observatory’s Giant Telescope, is a spectrograph that will search for signs of life on Earth-like exoplanets.
Photo : Artwork, ESO

The European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) now under construction in Chile will soon be the most powerful optical and infrared telescope ever built — and Canada will have a major role in its development.

To that end, Canadian scientists led by teams at Université de Montréal, the Mont-Mégantic Observatory (OMM), and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) in partnership with the University of British Columbia have been awarded grants totalling $22.6 million.

Of that, $11.3 million comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), $5.7 million from the Quebec Ministry of Higher Education, $3.8 million from the Government of Ontario and $1.8 million (pending approval) from the Government of British Columbia.

The investments are to support Canada’s contribution to the ANDES instrument on the ELT. The CFI's grant is the sixth-largest awarded under its 2026 competition, and is doubled by Quebec, Ontario and B.C..

At 39 metres in diameter, the ELT will be the first of a new class of “giant telescopes,” capable of observing the universe in unprecedented detail. With first light expected later this decade, it will open a new window onto everything from nearby exoplanets to the most distant galaxies.

Opportunities not to be missed in Canada

Canada is not currently a member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the organization building and operating the ELT. However, through the CFI's investment in ANDES, Canadian astronomers will gain guaranteed access to the telescope, something that would otherwise not be possible.

“This is a transformative moment for Canadian astronomy, propelling Canada into a leading role in what may become the most powerful ground-based telescope ever built,” said UdeM physics professor René Doyon, director of the OMM and IREx and co-principal investigator of the Canadian contribution to ANDES.

For decades, access to a very large optical telescope has been considered a top priority for Canada, including in the Canadian Astronomical Society’s Long Range Plan for the 2020s.

"With delays presently affecting other international projects, the ELT represents the best way in the near-term for Canada to participate in this new era of observational astronomy," said Doyon. "Without this contribution, we risk being excluded from some of the most important astronomical discoveries of the next decade."

ANDES: a powerful instrument to look for signs of life in the universe

The Canadian funding will support the development of key components of ANDES (ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph), one of the ELT’s instruments. ANDES will combine extreme sensitivity with high spectral resolution, allowing astronomers to study the universe in entirely new ways. It will operate across visible and infrared wavelengths and is designed to tackle some of the biggest questions in astrophysics, from the origins of the elements to the evolution of galaxies.

“ANDES will enable an unprecedentedly deep view into the cosmic dawn epoch,” said Allison Man, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UBC and co-principal investigator of the Canadian contribution to ANDES. “We will answer fundamental questions about the origin of chemical elements and learn how the first stars and active black holes lit up the universe.”

One of its most exciting capabilities lies closer to home. ANDES will be the first instrument capable of directly searching for signs of life in the atmospheres of nearby Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars, a long-standing goal in astronomy and what is often considered the Holy Grail of exoplanetary science.

By combining high-dispersion spectroscopy with advanced imaging techniques, ANDES will be able to detect molecules such as water, oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide on these exoplanets beyond our Solar System.

“This is the kind of instrument that could answer one of humanity’s oldest questions: are we alone in the universe?” said Frédérique Baron, project manager for the Canadian ANDES team. “Canada’s contribution provides key components of the instrument and the data analysis pipeline, positioning our team to play a central role in transforming raw observations into robust detections of atmospheric molecules on nearby Earth-like planets.”

Construction of the European Giant Telescope in Chile, April 2026
Photo : ESO/G. Vecchia

The fruit of Canadian expertise and the Mont-Mégantic Observatory

The Canadian contribution to ANDES builds directly on decades of leadership in astronomical instrumentation.

Scientists at the OMM and its Experimental Astrophysics Laboratory have played key roles in developing world-class instruments such as SPIRou on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, NIRPS on the 3.-6m ESO Telescope in La Silla, Chile, and Canada’s NIRISS instrument aboard the James Webb Space Telescope.

This expertise was critical in securing the CFI funding and positioning Canada as a major partner in the international ANDES consortium.

René Doyon, professor in the Department of Physics at Université de Montréal
Photo : Amélie Philibert, Université de Montréal

Other benefits: optics, photonics, detectors and data science

Beyond its scientific goals, the project — led from Montreal but involving collaborators across the country — will have wide-reaching benefits for Canada.

Nearly half of the funding will support highly qualified personnel and partnerships with Canadian industry, driving innovation in areas such as optics, photonics, detectors, and data science. These technologies often find applications far beyond astronomy, from medical imaging to communications and environmental monitoring.

At the same time, the project will train the next generation of scientists and engineers, helping to address Canada’s growing need for expertise in the technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

It will also bring Canadians along for the ride. Discoveries from ANDES will be translated into classroom activities and educational content developed by the project team, connecting students in Canada and Chile directly to the science unfolding at the ELT.

By turning real observations of distant worlds into hands-on learning experiences, the project will spark curiosity, encourage questions, and give young people a tangible connection to cutting-edge research, its proponents say.

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