Early on his career, he worked at deciphering the questions arising from the observations made by George Herbig and Guillermo Haro, the American and Mexican astronomers that first studied the celestial objects now known as Herbig-Haro objects. These objects show high luminosity in spite of the fact that they are at a relatively large distance away from their exciting source.

Cantó proposed a model in which he suggests that the exciting star experiences intense stellar wind and is located close to the edge of a molecular cloud. This model has been fully accepted by scientists specializing in stellar formation.

In collaboration with Luis Felipe Rodriguez, he began organizing the Grupo de Formación Estelar [Stellar Formation Group], considered to be, today, one of the leading groups on a global level. In recent years, has studied the accretion disks around newly formed low-mass stars. 

Dr. Cantó is a former head of the Departamento de Astrofísica Teórica [Department of Theoretical Astrophysics] and Academic Secretary of the Instituto de Astronomía [Astronomy Institute] of the UNAM. He is a member of the Consejo Consultivo de Ciencias de la Presidencia de la República (CCC) [Science Consulting Council of the President’s Office], the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Royal Astronomical Society and the Sociedad Mexicana de Física [Mexican Physics Society].

He has received the highest recognition of the Programa de Estímulos a la Productividad [Productivity Incentives Program] of the UNAM, the Premio de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias [Mexican Academy of Sciences Prize] in the area of Physics and Mathematics, the Premio Universidad Nacional de Investigación en Ciencias Exactas [National University Prize for Exact Sciences Research], and the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes [National Prize for Arts and Science].

He has published 147 articles submitted to international arbitration, has been invited six times to review work for publication, published 16 papers in extenso, and has over 3857 documented citations. He has tutored 7 B.S. theses, 7 master's and over 10 PhD dissertations.