As a result of a join application involving universities across Canada, $11.3M has been awarded from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support Canada’s contribution to the ANDES instrument on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in Chile.
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.
This funding, which is the sixth largest grant awarded in the 2026 CFI competition, will secure a major Canadian role in what will soon be the most powerful optical and infrared telescope ever built. The project will be led from the Université de Montréal and the University of British Columbia and involves collaborators across the country, including the University of Toronto, making it a truly pan-Canadian effort spanning universities and research institutes.
Ting Li, Assistant Professor at the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, led the $3.8M Ontario Research Fund proposal that complements the CFI award. Together with Suresh Sivanandam, Associate Professor and Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, she co-leads the U of T science and technical contribution. The U of T team will play a central role in procuring and testing the infrared detectors for ANDES’s near-infrared spectrograph, and in developing the assembly, testing, and software systems that turn raw detector signals into science-ready data.
A once-in-a-generation opportunity for Canada
Canada is not currently a member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the organisation building and operating the ELT. However, through this investment in ANDES, Canadian astronomers will gain guaranteed access to the telescope, something that would otherwise not be possible.
“The ELT will be the first of the giant telescopes to see the sky, and ANDES will let us do science that simply isn’t possible with any instrument operating today,” said Li. “I’m thrilled that the University of Toronto is part of building this instrument — it secures Canadian access to the ELT and puts us in a position to lead discoveries that will reshape how we understand the Universe, from the chemical fingerprints of the first stars to the nature of dark matter and dark energy.”
For decades, access to a very large optical telescope has been identified as a top priority for Canada, including in the Canadian Astronomical Society’s Long Range Plan for the 2020s. With delays affecting other international projects, the ELT represents the only near-term pathway for Canadian scientists to participate in this new era of discovery. Without this contribution, Canadian researchers risk being excluded from some of the most important astronomical observations of the next decade.
ANDES: a powerhouse instrument for discovery
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,” adds Allison Man, Assistant Professor at UBC, former Dunlap Fellow, and co-PI 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, it 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?” says Frédérique Baron, Project Manager for the Canadian ANDES team at the Université de Montréal. “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.”
Science, technology, and impact beyond astronomy
Beyond its scientific goals, the project 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 STEM expertise. 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.
The development of ANDES is already underway, with Canada’s contribution now officially secured through this CFI investment. As a second-generation instrument, it is expected to see first light in the next decade, a few years after the ELT is operational.
About the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto is an endowed research institute with over 80 faculty, postdocs, students, and staff, dedicated to innovative technology, groundbreaking research, world-class training, and public engagement.
The research themes of its faculty and Dunlap Fellows span the Universe and include optical, infrared and radio instrumentation, Dark Energy, large-scale structure, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmic magnetism and time-domain science.
The Dunlap Institute, the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and other researchers across the University of Toronto’s three campuses together comprise the leading concentration of astronomers in Canada, at the leading research university in the country.
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Dunlap Institute, University of Toronto