Nerds and geeks, mark your calendars!

You probably already know that the world’s largest particle accelerator is currently being constructed near Geneva. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to go online in autumn of this year.

For one day only, CERN will open its doors to the general public and allow people to explore the inside of the LHC and some of their other facilities. This will be a very rare opportunity to have almost unrestricted access to places few people normally will ever get to go. In addition to the surface facilities, visitors will be able to go underground to see the accelerator and will have access to the experiment caverns.

This will happen on Sunday, the 6th of April between 9:00 and 19:00. You will be able to access the facility from 8 different points around the ring in both Switzerland and France.

More information about the open day at the LHC, what there is to see at the various access points, how to get there, where to park, etc., etc., etc., is available on the LHC Open Day web page and the CERN web page.

I for one am quite excited by this, and I plan on braving the crowds. I'll try to remember to bump the thread as the day gets closer.



HeatherM

Hey,

I was wondering at what time is it advised to arrive at CERN and through which entrance there are more chances of getting in

Thanks
digi59

It might be pretty crowded. Last year several tens of thousands of people turned in on the Open Day. Due to that - the sightseeing was rather short - for example few minutes for the computer centre. If anyone plans to visit CERN I would also recommend trying to contact the visit service:
http://visits.web.cern.ch/visits/english/itineries.html

They said on the LHC Open Day site that there is a maximun of 15,000
people underground throughout the day. What does that mean? Is there a chance that if someone arrives at CERN he won't get in?

Also, what did you mean by a few minutes in the computer room? how long is the whole visit?

The site that you mentioned is for general visits so it isn't relevant to the LHC Open Day I think...

Thanks,
digi59

Hey hey,

Well 5AVeci sort of stole my thunder a bit, but I'll say it again: it's going to be crowded. In all honesty, I've not been to an open day at CERN before, but nonetheless I think I can safely recommend the following two things:

1. If you're seriously keen on going, show up as early as possible. As in 'before opening time' early.

2. I can only guess that the most accessible access points (Meyrin and Ferney-Voltaire) will also be the busiest, and it might be worth the extra effort to go to the opposite side of the ring to get in.

On a final note, I know for a fact that the wait list for a group visit is four to six months. I booked a group of twelve for a tour in October and by the time the open house comes around in April we'll still be waiting for our turn to come up.

HeatherM

You're right - visit service is totally independent from the Open Day. But it might be a good idea to ask them about any chances of sightseeing. And there is not much time - as soon we expect to start-up the LHC.

Computer centre was one of the points to visit during the Open Days (there are other interesting things to see at the experiments, at the magnet testing center, etc). People seemed happy last year.

So if I arrive at 6 am (it opens at 9am) and go to an entrance point of the other side of the main one I would probably get in.

Good heavens, I should think so. 8 am is likely still plently of time in advance, regardless of the entrance. It will be busy, but not that busy.

HM

Great, Do you happen to know how long the tour is? or you can stay there as much as you want?

Thanks,
digi59

Since the Open Day is a little over a week away, I thought I would bump up the thread
I was going to ask what time is recommended to be there, but I read that 8 am seems good. If somebody suggests something earlier (based on them attending a previous open day) please let us know. Also, if somebody has already been, any recommendation on which sites to see???

Watch out for the traffic... And I would try to visit the experiments chambers - ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb. Apart from that computer centre is quite nice (this is on the Meyrin site). For the computer centre it would be a good idea to show up early to get the tickets (free) for a specified time. It is not a rule that all sites have 'tickets', but each of the place has a certain daily throughput of people - thus they may introduce something like that.


But the key point is: see the experiments, the pits and the tunnel. This is probably the last chance in the next 15(?) years. You can always see other things (computer centre, etc) later...

Does anyone know if CERN is providing transport between the different access points? I have perused the Open Day website but mostly I see information about parking and shuttles from carparks. I will be travelling down from Bern on public transport. It seems I can get to the Meyrin (LHC P1) site (which I believe is the "CERN" stop on the TPG travel planner) and see ATLAS by taking tram 16 and bus 56 from Geneva train station. After that it seems (looking back and forward between the CERN map and the TPG website) I can maybe take bus Y to get to LHC P2 and see ALICE. That's a lot of physics goodness but it would be great to see the other experiments or the accelerating cavities too.

Also, I am not familiar at all with Geneva public transport, and my French is almost non-existent, but it looks like buying a "LA CARTE 24H RÉGIONALE TOUTES ZONES" for 9 CHF with a half-tax card might be a good plan (especially to minimise the need for talking to bus-drivers in French.)

Until now I didn't realise I loved physics enough to get out of bed so early on a Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to this!

is there an LHC entrance near zurich, or do i have to go to geneva?

I am not sure about the public transport and transport between the points. For sure to some places you'll be able to get by the shuttles ( http://lhc2008.web.cern.ch/LHC2008/O.../info.html#tra).

To the main site you can get with the bus 56 (after going by tram 14/16 / bus 29 from the Gare Cornavin to the Avanchet; or by going by bus 28 to Meyrin from the Genève airport (airport/bus station)). It might be difficult without car/bicycle to get to more distant points. Still maybe hitch-hiking will work - as there will be plenty of people here...

Bus Y is an average option as it is quite rare (once every hour or half an hour).
As for the ticket - if you want to travel only in Genèva zone then it's enough to buy the daily ticket - 10CHF (on weekends valid for 2 people). If you want the full regional ticket then 18CHF (on weekends valid for 2 people). There are also variants of tickets valid from 9:00 till midnight (a bit cheaper, but valid for 1 person).

See you all anglophones on Sunday in computer centre...

Well, I'd like to travel from the main Geneva train station to the LHC and back again. Do you know whether that would be covered in the Geneva zone? If not, no worries, I'm sure I can figure it out eventually from the TPG website.
I thought the "valid for 2 people" part looked like a great deal until I saw it was only for full-priced tickets. With a half-tax card one person can buy the full regional ticket for 9CHF, or two people can buy them for 18CHF.
Cheers,
W

Sadly, the LHC only 26 km in circumference, so it's local to Geneva only.

To all: I would recommend going down into the detector caverns if you can. Access is getting more and more restricted, and soon due to beam radiation (don't worry, it's only dangerous if you are actually underground right next to it) it will be closed up.

The detectors are huge, inspiring works of engineering, so see them while you can. There's nothing like being 100m underground and being in front of an 8-story apparatus.

It's big, but it ain't that big.

Won't matter as we'll all disappear into the Black Hole come Autumn

Exactly. Does anyone know, are those two guys who are sueing CERN for the possibility of destroying us all in the future , real physicists? Anyway, I think due to that news, it will be busier than ever!

Walter Wagner minored in physics at Berkeley (with a major in biology). Luis Sancho appears to be an armchair quack of the type who sends poorly-written articles to every physicist he can find in the hopes that someone will take him seriously. They both seem to be the dangerous sort of person that knows enough jargon to convince journalists to take them seriously.

It's also possible to get tram passes from a hotel if people are going down the night before. We went in October and stayed at a hotel that gave us a tram pass good for the entire time we were there. We are staying at a different place this weekend and they also have an offer for it on the website if you look closely enough. They typically don't give you one unless you ask, but if people are staying in hotels it might save you 20-40 CHF so I'd suggest asking.