Operate a measurement instrument with your own hands, and use it to measure cosmic rays yourself. We want to bring that experience to more people — that’s the future we’re working toward.
Muon measurement is a topic covered even in university physics labs. Until now, though, it required expensive, large, high-voltage measurement equipment. This project develops OSECHI, a detector that’s compact and easy to handle while still delivering serious, research-grade measurement, and brings it into familiar settings — a school classroom, a local event, and more.
Build it, measure with it, understand it #
OSECHI isn’t a “finished package” measurement device where you follow a fixed procedure and get your result. We’ve deliberately left room to get hands-on throughout — flashing the firmware, capturing and analyzing measurement data, operating and fine-tuning the device yourself. Filling in those gaps yourself is, we think, exactly what gives cosmic-ray measurement its hands-on feel.
Along the way, you’ll repeatedly run into moments where you have to think for yourself: how to take the data, how to read the results, how to fix things when they don’t work. That kind of trial and error doesn’t come from assembling a pre-made kit. It doesn’t come from reading about it or watching a demonstration at a science museum, either. Watching the “cosmic rays” you read about in a textbook get counted, live, on a device you operated yourself — that, we think, is the shortest path to making knowledge feel personal.
The society we want to build #
Measuring cosmic rays with your own hands builds a foundation for scientific thinking that memorizing results alone never does. We want to grow the number of places — schools, communities — where that kind of experience is available, and in doing so, make science education something closer to everyday life.
Looking ahead, we’d also like to grow this into a citizen-science observation network, where detectors scattered across the country pool their data and anyone can take part.
About Us #
This project began when members from various universities and research institutes across the country came together. Regardless of position or experience, we value respecting one another and working cooperatively. We aim to keep growing — both the people and the regions involved — while sharing the experience of measurement.