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Ouchi Lab (Observational Cosmology Group)
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The lab uses large telescopes to look out to the farthest reaches of the universe and takes on cosmic history from its earliest days to the present.
AboutAbout the lab
From the earliest observable universe to the universe as a whole.
Ouchi Lab conducts observational research on the early history of the universe.
Over the 13.8 billion years of cosmic history, how the first stars and galaxies were born and grew is still shrouded in mystery.
Using deep surveys with the Subaru Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the ALMA telescope, the lab searches for distant galaxies and other objects, and investigates the mechanisms of early galaxy formation and cosmic reionization. The lab also aims to understand how the universe as a whole came to be, using statistics of objects observed in the universe up to the present day.
Objects from this era are far away and extremely faint, so the lab makes full use of the world's most advanced telescopes to take on a universe that humanity has never seen before.
Key terms
- Deep survey
- An observation method that observes the same region of the sky for a long time to find extremely distant and faint objects
- Distant galaxy
- A galaxy located very far away. Because its light takes a long time to reach Earth, it lets us see the universe as it was long ago
- Cosmic reionization
- The phenomenon in which the neutral hydrogen gas that filled the universe was ionized again by light from the first stars and galaxies
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
Using deep surveys with large telescopes, the lab searches for distant galaxies and investigates early galaxy formation and the physical processes of cosmic reionization, which is closely linked to it. The research takes on the first billion years or so after the Big Bang, the missing piece of cosmic history.
*Illustrative imageEarly Galaxy Formation
The lab explores how stars and galaxies formed from primordial gas during the first billion years or so, the dawn of the universe. Many astrophysical phenomena from this era remain unexplained.
*Illustrative imageCosmic Reionization
The hydrogen gas filling the universe is thought to have been reionized during this period, but it is still unknown whether ultraviolet light from the first galaxies alone can explain it.
*Illustrative imageDeep Surveys with Large Telescopes
Using the Subaru Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the ALMA telescope, the lab conducts deep surveys to find distant objects that appear extremely faint.
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
In the hot, dense universe shortly after its birth, the light elements that fill the universe were created. The key process is hidden in the helium formed by reactions of the neutrons remaining one second after the Big Bang. By measuring the helium abundance of the universe, the lab probes the universe immediately after the Big Bang.
MembersFaculty
Members of Ouchi Lab include faculty, ICRR Fellows, institute researchers, collaborating researchers, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMasami OuchiPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorYoshiaki Ono
- Assistant ProfessorYuichi Harikane
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Report an errorAbout the images
For images provided to us or used with permission, the source is listed on each line. Wikimedia Commons images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab (they are cropped). Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Hubble ultra deep field” NASA and the European Space Agency / Public domain (cropped)
- Early Galaxy Formation: “Webb's First Deep Field” NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI / Public domain (cropped)
- Cosmic Reionization: “Time Since The Big Bang” NASA/STScI / パブリックドメイン
（トリミング） (cropped) - Deep Surveys with Large Telescopes: “MaunaKea Subaru” Denys (fr) / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: “Observational constraints (Neff and η)” Yanagisawa et al. 2026 / CC BY 4.0
（トリミング） (cropped) - Related lab (Yokoyama Lab): “Oldest Light in the Universe (SVS30133)” NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, Global Science and Technology, Inc./Mark Malanoski / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Yamaguchi (Hiro) Lab): “Tycho-supernova-xray” NASA/CXC
（Smithsonian Institution 経由） / Public domain (cropped) - Related lab (Liang Lab): “NuclideMap stitched 2” NuclideMap.PNG: The viewer derivative work: Neokortex (talk) / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Cannon Lab): “Maya-NR-Simulation-with-Waveform-frame788” Deborah Ferguson ほか、
Georgia Tech MAYA Collaboration / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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