Category Archives: CASCA in the News

Town Halls and Upcoming Survey

Dear CASCA colleagues,

On behalf of CASCA, we invite you to participate in an important community consultation regarding Canada’s future access to very large optical/infrared telescope (VLOT) facilities.

The Canadian Long Range Plan (LRP) and Mid-Term Review (MTR) have consistently identified access to a VLOT as a top national priority. For over two decades, the Thirty Meter Telescope has been viewed as the primary path to meeting this goal. However, recent developments – including proposed changes to the TMT site and evolving financial and governance considerations – necessitate a reassessment of how best to achieve this objective.

In particular, the TMT project is now considering relocating the observatory from Maunakea to the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands. This shift, along with broader uncertainties around funding and timelines, raises important strategic questions for Canada’s role in TMT and alternative pathways to VLOT access.

The CASCA/ACURA TMT Advisory Committee (CATAC) and the CASCA Ground-based Astronomy Committee (GAC) are therefore seeking input from the community on potential options, which include:

• Continuing with TMT at the new site with additional Canadian investment
• Maintaining participation in TMT while pursuing access to the European Extremely Large Telescope
• Prioritizing access to ELT/ESO facilities, potentially at the expense of TMT and existing OIR facilities

Each of these paths carries significant scientific, financial, and strategic implications, including potential impacts on Canada’s participation in facilities such as Gemini Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.

To inform these discussions, we are organizing two virtual town halls, which will include panelists:

April 29, 2026 at 12:00-1:00 PM (Eastern)
Zoom: https://dunlap.zoom.us/j/89785304488 Passcode: 995428

May 14, 2026 at 2:00-3:00 PM (Eastern)
Zoom: https://dunlap.zoom.us/j/89203567384 Passcode: 637073

These sessions will provide an opportunity to review the options, ask questions, and share your perspectives. To help facilitate discussion, we encourage you to submit questions at least 24 hours in advance using the following link:
https://forms.gle/fP3rPpN47nkoxymY7

We are circulating a detailed background document to support informed discussion. A community survey will be distributed to all CASCA members in early May, allowing you to rank your preferences among the VLOT options, which will be used to develop recommendations for a path forward.

Given the current fiscal and geopolitical context, it is important to emphasize that all pathways involve significant uncertainty, and no outcome is guaranteed. Your input is therefore critical in helping to guide national priorities and inform ongoing discussions with federal stakeholders and international partners.

We strongly encourage all members of the Canadian astronomy community to engage in this process.

Sincerely,
Suresh Sivanandam (CATAC chair) and Craig Heinke (GAC chair)

On behalf of CASCA

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of the SOC and LOC of the CASCA 2026 Annual General Meeting (https://www.astro.umontreal.ca/casca2026/en/), we are pleased to invite proposals for Town Halls and/or thematic lunch sessions.

We are seeking ideas that will foster engagement, discussion, and community exchange, and that will contribute to a diverse and dynamic program. In particular, we encourage proposals that include interactive formats such as group discussions, panels, or Q&A sessions.

Deadline : 15 February 2026 (by end of day)

Please note that proposals from different organizations may be combined to form a single lunch session, where appropriate. In most cases, organizing groups will be expected to provide lunch for participants.

If you are interested in organizing a Town Hall or thematic lunch, please submit a brief proposal outlining the topic, format, organizers, and anticipated audience by completing this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqFxu2gVrBfm5Kc17fGertlGK0mAPLw4pnH30lMfDWk2LzmQ/viewform?usp=dialog

We look forward to receiving your ideas and to building an engaging and inclusive program together.

With best regards,

René Doyon and Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, on behalf of the SOC and LOC

The Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic, IREX and l’Université de Montréal mourn the loss of René Racine. René Racine spent his life lifting our eyes to the heavens and, in doing so, lifted an entire generation of Canadian astronomy. Born in Québec City on 16 October 1939, Professor Racine’s career was defined by curiosity, craftsmanship, and a rare combination of practical engineering skill and conceptual boldness that made him a pillar of our astronomical community.

René arrived in astronomy through quiet, steady apprenticeship. After earning a degree in physics from Université Laval (1963), he pursued doctoral studies in astronomy at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Sidney van den Bergh (1929-), another giant of Canadian astronomy. René later became a Carnegie Fellow at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories in California, returning to a professorship in the Department of Astronomy in the University of Toronto in 1969, where he served until 1976.

René accepted a professorship at l’Université de Montréal in 1976, where he also took on the leadership of the construction project for the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic (OMM). From his early years abroad, René returned with a firm conviction that world-class science could, and should, be done here at home. That belief remains an essential part of his legacy. René was instrumental in creating and guiding the OMM, serving as director through its crucial formative decades.

From selecting the site to assembling the academic and technical teams, René oversaw the observatory’s development, helping to build its instruments and reputation, and mentoring countless students and staff who came to regard the mountain as a second home. The OMM was inaugurated in May 1978. The observatory we cherish today still bears the imprint of his leadership.

René later served as director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (1980-1984), where he played a pivotal role in establishing its international reputation atop Mauna Kea. His global influence was particularly telling in his championship of the virtues of the CFHT and its superb observing site on the summit of Mauna Kea. Thanks to his visionary leadership, the telescope became renowned for the unmatched quality of its imaging capabilities, a legacy that helped not just in the production of cutting-edge science results, but also in its influence on subsequent instrumental design and application at major international observatories.

Following his return to Québec, he served with distinction as the Director of OMM from 1984 to 1997. His contributions in both institutions were outstanding. René’s many scientific contributions were matched by technical ingenuity. He earned international recognition for his work on astronomical instruments and image quality, research that improved the clarity of what we could see and sharpened the questions we could ask of the universe.

Those who worked with him remember a man who could move between the control room, the drafting table, and the lecture hall with equal confidence and apparently boundless energy. On the scientific side, René made important contributions to the study of globular clusters, the development of adaptive optics, pioneering theoretical work in high-contrast imaging, and helped recalibrate the Hubble constant, a central parameter in our attempts to measure the scale and age of the universe. His research, and the collaborations it inspired, helped refine our cosmic distances and advance broader conversations in cosmology as well as the field of exoplanet imaging.

In 1997, René retired from his positions as Adjunct Full Professor and Director of the OMM and became Professor Emeritus at the University of Montréal. In 2005, he was appointed to the Executive Directorship of the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), a role in which he served with distinction until 2012.

His contributions and service were recognized in many ways: membership in the Royal Society of Canada (1989) and the Order of Canada (1999), honours from Canadian astronomical societies, and distinction from the Ordre National du Québec (2005). An asteroid 45580 Renéracine is named in his honour, a fitting celestial tribute to a life spent in astronomy.

Beyond titles and awards, René’s true gift was what he gave to people. Students remember his patience and clarity; colleagues recall his insistence on rigour tempered by humour; collaborators valued a partner who expected excellence but shared credit freely. The observatory community, and Canadian astronomy more broadly, benefited not only from his mind, but from his readiness to teach, to build, and to protect the institutions that make discovery possible.

The light he helped focus, literally and metaphorically, will continue to pass through the telescopes and the minds he shaped. Let us remember René Racine as a builder of places and shaper of people: an astronomer who believed that great science required doing things well, and that doing things well required generosity of time and spirit. In the quiet of a telescope dome, or in the instant when a distant point of light sharpens into a star, a part of René lives on. We mourn his passing, and we give thanks for a life that made it easier for all of us to look up.

With respect and sympathy. Stéphane Courteau, René Doyon, David Hanes

Dear colleagues,

We are delighted to announce that the Canadian Astronomical Society’s Annual General Meeting (CASCA 2026) will take place from June 9–11, 2026 at the Université de Montréal’s Campus MIL—a vibrant research hub at the crossroads of Montréal’s scientific and cultural life.

This flagship event will gather more than 300 astronomers, students, and researchers from across Canada and around the world for three days of cutting-edge science, innovation, and collaboration. With a focus on the future of astrophysics in the era of big data, artificial intelligence, and next-generation observatories, CASCA 2026 will spotlight the discoveries and technologies transforming our understanding of the Universe while inspiring the next generation of scientists.

Save the date: June 9–11, 2026

Location: Université de Montréal – Campus MIL, Montréal, QC

Website Updates coming soon!: https://www.astro.umontreal.ca/casca2026/

We look forward to welcoming you to Montréal in 2026 for CASCA’s annual meeting — CASCA 2026: MIL-ion Futures of Astrophysics.

On behalf of the LOC:

• Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo (co-chair)
• Frédérique Baron (LOC chair)
• René Doyon (co-chair)

And many others!

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that CASCA 2026 will be held from Tuesday to Thursday, June 9-11, at the new campus MIL of the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec. The CASCA Graduate Student Workshop will be June 8th.

We look forward to welcoming you in our beautiful city!

Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, for the LOC

The LOC: Frédérique (chair), René Doyon, Loïc Albert, Marie-Eve Naud, Lison Malo, Benjamin Vigneron, Auriane Thilloy, Sacha Perry-Fagant , Xavier Drolet, Marine Prunier, Etienne Artigau, Salma Salhi, Victor Lambert, Olivia Pereira, Olivier Hernandez

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to announce that registration for the Fast Radio Burst 2025 conference (FRB 2025) is now open! The conference will take place at McGill University in Montréal from July 7–11, 2025, and will be fully hybrid. We are working to ensure an engaging experience for both in-person and remote participants.

To register, please either login to your confTool account (or create a confTool account) here: https://www.conftool.com/frb2025/. The registration deadline is Friday, May 23rd.

We aim to waive the registration fee for anyone who requests it. Final decisions regarding fee waivers will be communicated after registration closes.

We look forward to seeing you in Montréal or online this July! If you have any questions or encounter any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact us at frb2025@physics.mcgill.ca. For more information, including confirmed invited speakers, please visit our website: https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/frb2025.

Best regards,
Alice Curtin
on behalf of the FRB 2025 SOC & LOC