A team led by the Université de Montréal, the Observatoire du Mont‑Mégantic (OMM) and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx), in partnership with the University of British Columbia and McGill, has been awarded nearly $11.3 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support Canada's contribution to ANDES, a flagship scientific instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile.
For McGill, the project sees the University's researchers playing a critical role in one of astronomy's most ambitious international facilities: creating the software that will help transform raw telescope data into discoveries about distant planets, stars and galaxies.
At 39 metres in diameter, the ELT will be the largest telescope of its kind, capable of observing the universe in unprecedented detail. First observations are expected later this decade.
A rare gateway to a global facility
Canada is not a member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which is building and operating the ELT. By contributing key components to ANDES, however, Canadian astronomers gain guaranteed access to the telescope, which they would not otherwise have.
"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," says René Doyon, Director of the OMM and IREx, Professor at UdeM and co-PI of the Canadian contribution to ANDES.
For decades, access to a next‑generation optical telescope has been identified as a national priority. With other international projects facing delays, the ELT represents Canada's only near‑term path into this new era of astronomical discovery.
ANDES: turning light into answers
ANDES, short for ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph, is one of the ELT's core instruments. It works by breaking incoming light into its component wavelengths with extreme precision, allowing astronomers to determine what distant objects are made of and how they behave.
The instrument will be used to study everything from the first stars and galaxies to the evolution of chemical elements across cosmic time.
One of its most anticipated applications is closer to home: searching for signs of life beyond Earth. ANDES will be the first instrument capable of directly probing the atmospheres of nearby Earth‑like planets orbiting sun‑like stars, looking for molecules such as water, oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide.
"ANDES will be a huge leap forward in our search for life in the Universe," said Nicolas Cowan, a professor in the Trottier Space Institute at McGill and co‑investigator of the Canadian ANDES contribution. "It will be the first astronomical instrument designed from the ground up to search nearby exoplanets for signs of life."
McGill's role: from data to discovery
McGill's contribution is led by Cowan, who serves as the McGill principal investigator and a national co‑investigator on the project.
McGill researchers will develop key software that converts ANDES's raw measurements into science‑grade spectra: the processed data astronomers need to detect molecules in exoplanet atmospheres and carry out the instrument's broader science program.
This work places McGill at the essential interface between observation and discovery, ensuring that the ELT's unprecedented light‑gathering power can be translated into reliable scientific results.
Broad impact beyond astronomy
Beyond its scientific goals, the project will support training and innovation across Canada. Nearly half of the funding will go toward highly qualified personnel and partnerships with Canadian industry, advancing technologies in optics, photonics, detectors and data science. These fields have applications ranging from medical imaging to communications.
The project also includes educational initiatives designed to bring ELT science into classrooms in Canada and Chile, giving students direct exposure to real observations of distant worlds.
With development of ANDES already underway, Canada's contribution is now fully secured. As a second‑generation ELT instrument, ANDES is expected to begin operations in the next decade, shortly after the telescope itself becomes operational.
Scientific contacts
Nicolas Cowan
Canada Research Chair in Planetary Climate
Department of Physics and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
McGill University, Trottier Space Institute
