Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets

Exploring New Worlds

IREx brings together the best researchers in the field of exoplanets working on current and future major observational astronomy projects, with the ultimate goal of finding life beyond the Solar System.

Discover the Institute

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March 17 2026

IREx Researchers Are Awarded Coveted Observing Time on the Webb Telescope For Cycle 5

The competition was fiercer than ever to obtain precious observing time on the James Webb…

2026
March 16 2026

Meet the 2026 Lauzon Grant Winners!

Two new recipients of the Jean-Marc Lauzon Grants have been selected for 2026: Riley Rosener…

2026
February 27 2026

NASA’s Pandora Mission Takes on Exoplanet Atmospheres

When NASA’s Pandora mission lifted off early this year on January 11th, it carried with…

2026
February 18 2026

Montreal scientists discover dozens of new “starless planets”

Astronomers from the Montreal Planetarium and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at…

2026
December 15 2025

Webb Reveals a Hazy World That Shows Not All Planet Twins Are Identical

A Canadian-led team discovers that exoplanet LP 791-18 c, a temperate sub-Neptune, hides a hazy…

2025
December 11 2025

Webb Telescope Detects Thick Atmosphere Around Broiling Lava World

Observations of the ultra-hot super-Earth exoplanet TOI-561 b show the strongest evidence yet for an…

2025
December 8 2025

Webb Telescope Reveals Double Helium Tails Escaping from a Hot Jupiter

Astronomers from the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at the Université de Montréal…

2025
December 1 2025

Exoplanet Caught Shedding Its Atmosphere in Real Time

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team led by McGill researcher Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy…

2025
November 26 2025

Mathis Bouffard recipient of the 2025 Hubert-Reeves grant

IREx is proud to announce that Mathis Bouffard, M.Sc. student in astrophysics at the Université…

2025
November 7 2025

IREx-led team maps ‘weather’ on a nearby brown dwarf in unprecedented detail

Study reveals patchy clouds and shifting atmospheric layers on a free-floating planetary-mass object just 20…

2025
October 28 2025

A groundbreaking map of an ultra-hot giant exoplanet: interview with Louis-Philippe Coulombe

Ultra-hot Jupiters have long captured astronomers’ curiosity. These giant gas planets orbit so close to…

2025

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Exoplanets in Numbers

Since the discovery in 1995 of the first planet in orbit around a star other than the Sun, astronomers have confirmed the existence of several thousands of exoplanets. This exciting field of astronomical research is truly booming!

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exoplanet candidates

Exoplanets are detected using several different methods. Over ¾ of all candidate exoplanets have been discovered by the Kepler and TESS space telescopes using the transit method.

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confirmed exoplanets

Other astronomical phenomena such as binary stars or stellar activity can be mistaken for exoplanetary signals. Candidates must be confirmed using multiple observations from different telescopes.

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planetary systems

Like the eight planets in our own Solar System, many of the exoplanets discovered are also found in planetary systems with more than one planet in orbit.

potentially habitable exoplanets

An exoplanet similar to the Earth remains the Holy Grail of our research field. We are, among other things, looking for rocky exoplanets that are found in the habitable zone of their star, meaning they are at the right distance from their star such that it could contain water in liquid form.

Our Team

IREx includes an expanding team of over 60 people (professors, researchers and students) mainly from the Université de Montréal, McGill University, Bishop's University, the Montreal Planetarium and the Université Laval, all working on various research programs linked to the study of exoplanets and related fields.

Meet our Members

Join iREx!

IREx is actively recruiting interns, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers and staff. We promote diversity, inclusion and equity and invite women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities, as well as people of all orientations and gender identities to join our team.

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