Canada is strengthening its role in next-generation astronomy through a major investment in the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the massive observatory currently under construction in Chile that is expected to become the world’s most powerful optical and infrared telescope.
Research teams led by Université de Montréal, the Mont-Mégantic Observatory, the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets and the University of British Columbia have secured nearly $11.3 million in federal funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to support Canada’s contribution to the ANDES instrument on the ELT.
With a diameter of 39 metres, the ELT will inaugurate a new generation of giant telescopes capable of observing the universe with unprecedented precision. First light is expected later this decade.
Although Canada is not currently a member of the European Southern Observatory, the funding agreement will guarantee Canadian astronomers direct access to the telescope through participation in the ANDES project.
René Doyon, director of the Mont-Mégantic Observatory and IREx, described the initiative as a transformative moment for Canadian astronomy, warning that Canada risked missing major discoveries without participation in projects such as the ELT.
The ANDES instrument will combine ultra-high sensitivity with advanced spectroscopy to study exoplanets, galaxies and the early universe. Scientists say it could become the first instrument capable of directly searching for signs of life in the atmospheres of nearby Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars.
Researchers expect ANDES to detect molecules such as oxygen, methane, carbon dioxide and water in distant planetary atmospheres, a breakthrough considered one of astronomy’s most ambitious goals.
