McGill University
Cosmology with the MIST Radio Experiment from the McGill Arctic Research Station Space Analogue Site — The periods before and during the formation of the first stars in the Universe, known respectively as the Dark Ages and Cosmic Dawn, remain almost completely unexplored. In the current paradigm of cosmology, the first stars formed within the first 100 million years of the Universe, and studying them through direct optical or infrared observations is not expected to be possible. Fortunately, the early Universe was filled with neutral hydrogen gas, out of which the first stars formed. Ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from the first stars and galaxies left an imprint on the 21 cm neutral hydrogen radiation, which is a promising observational tool for characterizing the first stars and galaxies.

This project consists of deploying custom-built radio telescopes at the extremely remote McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS), in the Canadian High Arctic, to attempt to observe the faint signal emitted by the first stars. The main purpose of this project is to use these telescopes as prototypes f