Posts on OSECHI

We Will Hold "Hirameki Tokimeki Science" — Watch the Sun with Neutrinos: How Do We Block the Troublesome Cosmic-Ray Muons? — at University of Toyama!

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On Sunday, September 6, 2026, we will hold the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science’s “Hirameki Tokimeki Science — Welcome to the University Lab! KAKENHI” program “Watch the Sun with Neutrinos — How Do We Block the Troublesome Cosmic-Ray Muons?” at the Gofuku Campus of the Faculty of Science, University of Toyama. The event will let 20 high school students experience particle and astrophysics research through lectures and hands-on activities.

We Held "Tan-Q — The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays" at Osaka University!

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On February 8, 2026, we held the cosmic ray exploration event “Tan-Q — The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays” at Osaka University’s Toyonaka Campus in Osaka. The event let five high school students experience hands-on science using OSECHI.

Associate Professor Mizuki Yoshioka (Kyushu University) led the seminar, speaking about what cosmic rays are. From the OSECHI project, Associate Professor Yoshioka was joined by Associate Professor Kazuki Ueno (Osaka University), Specially Appointed Assistant Professor Shota Takahashi (Nagoya University), Shoji (KEK), Professor Takeyuki Nakamori (Yamagata University), Professor Satoru Mihara (KEK / SOKENDAI), and graduate students Yamada and Aramaki (Osaka University).

We Held a Development Retreat at University of Toyama!

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

On November 1 and 2, 2025, we held an “OSECHI Development Retreat” at University of Toyama. The OSECHI project normally holds regular meetings online, but about once a year we bring members together in person for a concentrated push on development.

This retreat included a first in-person meeting with the University of Toyama members who joined the project this year, and discussion was lively. On the development side, we redesigned OSECHI’s PCB and worked hands-on through how to combine the electronic parts and configure the initial setup, completing five OSECHI detectors by the end. The retreat further strengthened collaboration among members and marked an important step forward for future development.

We Gave a Talk on OSECHI at the Scintillator Enhancement Workshop 2025

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

From October 28 to 29, 2025, the Scintillator Enhancement Workshop 2025 was held at the Ginga Hall, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Iwate University. The workshop is part of Platform A, a KEK detector development project focused on improving scintillators — the light-emitting materials used to detect cosmic rays and other radiation. As part of the workshop, Seiki Tanida, a graduate student at Kyushu University, gave a talk titled “Development of 3D-printed scintillators for compact cosmic-ray detectors.”

We Held a Development Retreat at Yamagata University!

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On November 16 and 17, 2024, we held an “OSECHI Development Retreat” at Yamagata University. The OSECHI project normally holds regular meetings online, but about once a year we bring members together in person for a concentrated push on development.

A key goal of this retreat was to have students actually use “haniwers,” OSECHI’s data acquisition software, hands-on. I had been developing this software on my own up to this point, but having multiple people use it together surfaced unexpected bugs and areas for improvement, giving us valuable feedback for future work.

Our fun-Q Project Proceedings Published in the ICRC2023 Proceedings

Sat, 28 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A proceedings titled “墳Q (fun-Q) project: muography of Japanese ancient mounds by high school students” was published in Proceedings of Science (PoS).

The fun-Q project is muography (muon tomography) of Japanese ancient mounds by high school students, carried out through interdisciplinary collaboration. The team consists of high school students and teachers, scientists, engineers, communicators, curators, and archaeologists. The students are divided into groups, working with experts in both archaeological and physics research and combining the results of their studies. The first target was Akiyama Koshinzuka Kofun, located near the students’ school. The team conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey and cosmic-ray measurement using OSECHI, a Japanese-style cosmic-ray muon detector developed for outreach and education.

Our OSECHI Proceedings Published at ICRC2023

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A proceedings titled “Development of Japanese-style cosmic-ray muon detector for outreach and education” was published in Proceedings of Science (PoS).

Few citizens or students interested in particle physics and astrophysics have the chance to work with real research equipment such as accelerators, telescopes, and detectors, since these tend to be expensive. Recent technological developments have made it possible to build low-cost detectors, and this proceedings introduces the structure and prototype performance of OSECHI, a low-cost, compact cosmic-ray muon detector, along with examples of its use in outreach.

We Held "The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays" Measurement Experience at Saji Astro Park!

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On August 17, 2024, the “Saji Astro Park Science Program” was held at Saji Astro Park in Tottori. As the closing session of a day filled with talks on topics like decarbonization, artificial shooting stars, and X-ray astronomy, a cosmic ray measurement experience titled “The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays” was held, led by the OSECHI group as instructors.

Participants split into five teams and measured the arrival rate of cosmic rays while changing the detector’s angle. After the measurements, each team shared its results with the whole group, and everyone considered why their measured distributions took the shape they did.

We Held "Tan-Q — The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays" at Nogake Community Center!

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On February 17, 2024, we held the cosmic ray exploration event “Tan-Q — The Mystery of the Universe! The Wonder of Cosmic Rays” at Nogake Community Center in Fukuoka, as a community outreach program of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI). The event let participants from 5th grade up experience hands-on science using OSECHI.

The event was held in two parts.

In the first part, a seminar, Professor Takeyuki Nakamori of Yamagata University’s Faculty of Science spoke about what cosmic rays are.

Taking OSECHI Into an Ancient Burial Mound: Cosmic-Ray Research with a High School

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

From August 9 to 10, 2023, the OSECHI group teamed up with Waseda University Honjo Senior High School to carry out a measurement study using OSECHI at Akiyama Koshinzuka Kofun, a horizontal-entry round burial mound in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture.

Akiyama Koshinzuka Kofun is a round burial mound about 34 m in diameter and 5 m high, built in the late 6th century, with a horizontal-entry stone chamber (about 7.7 m long) opening to the south-southwest. It’s one of the mounds making up the Akiyama Kofun cluster, designated a Honjo City historic site and a Saitama Prefecture important site, and its internal structure is already known.

We Held "Cosmic Ray Measurement Experience 2023" at Nagoya University!

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On July 30, 2023, the “Cosmic Ray Measurement Experience 2023” was held at the Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute (KMI), Nagoya University, in Aichi. The event was organized as a public program timed to coincide with the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023), which was being held at Nagoya University.

Co-hosted by KMI and Kasoku Kitchen, the event was open to junior high, high school, and technical college students, who built their own Cosmic Watch and used it to measure cosmic rays.

We Helped Out at the Osaka Science Museum's "Measure Cosmic Rays with a Cosmic Ray Detector!"

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

On November 6, 2022, Kasoku Kitchen hosted “Measure Cosmic Rays with a Cosmic Ray Detector!” at the Osaka Science Museum in Osaka. Open to participants from 5th grade through high school, it was a hands-on program where participants built their own Cosmic Watch and used it to observe cosmic rays.

From the OSECHI project, Associate Professor Kazuki Ueno (Osaka University) and Masaki Miyataki took part as staff, helping participants with their builds and introducing the OSECHI project.

We Held "Tan-Q — Exploring the Mystery of the Universe Through Cosmic Rays" at the Miraikan!

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On December 19, 2020, we held the cosmic ray exploration event “Tan-Q — Exploring the Mystery of the Universe Through Cosmic Rays” at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo, as a community outreach program of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI). The event let junior high and high school students, teachers, and members of the public experience hands-on science using a small cosmic ray detector.

We Held a Cosmic Ray Exploration Workshop "Tan-Q" at Hiroo Gakuen!

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On January 13, 2020, we held the cosmic ray exploration workshop “Tan-Q” at Hiroo Gakuen Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo, together with junior high and high school students from across the country, doing a hands-on cosmic ray measurement exercise using cosmic ray detectors.

Participants split into four teams and measured how the rate of cosmic rays reaching a detector changed between the upper floors of a building and ground level.

We Held a Cosmic Ray Observation Event at S-BIRD in Nagano!

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

On October 5, 2019, we held the cosmic ray observation event “Invisible Cosmic Rays See Everything! — Experience Cutting-Edge Particle and Astrophysics —” at S-BIRD, a hub for industrial promotion and talent development in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture. The event was open to junior high, high school, and technical college students nationwide, and included an activity presentation by students from Hiroo Gakuen High School.

The event was held in two parts.