One of the greatest ironies of physics is that to see the smallest things in the Universe we need huge machines. The Compact Muon Solenoid detector (or just CMS for short) is one of two extremely complex - and very, very large - pieces of equipment used by CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva to sift through the bits of shrapnel created when packets of protons smash into each at very nearly the speed of light. Just how big is the CMS? BABloggee Thomas Radke sent me this picture of it.
Click it to see the original 6000 pixel picture hosted at CERN. Then pick your jaw up from the floor. This monstrosity is 15 meters high - nearly 50 feet! To give you a sense of the scale here, look to the bottom of the green scaffolding on the sides, and you'll see handrails where people can stand.
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