ELT High Resolution Spectrograph

HIRES is the high spectral resolution spectrograph for the Extremely Large Telescope, which is currently under construction in the Atacama Desert (Chile) by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
HIRES will open a completely new discovery space with an unprecedented broad range of science cases, spanning most areas of Astrophysics and even breaking into the domain of Fundamental Physiscs.
Some of the most outstanding scientific goals include: the characterization of atmospheres in Earth-like planets in other solar systems, with the ultimate goal of detecting signatures of life; the detection of the first generation of stars, through their chemical fingerprint in the promordial Universe; the detection of of the variation of some of the fundamental constants of Physics, such as the electron-to-proton mass ratio, or provinding the most stringent constraints on these quantities.

Please, visit the links below for a more extensive description of the science cases and of the overall project.