Large, Luscious QTVR Panoramas of Compact Muon Solenoid (and other "big science" scenes at CERN, Switzerland)

I've featured interactive QuickTime VR panoramas from photographer Peter McCready previously on Boing Boing, and it looks like he has some lovely new work up. QTVRs aren't good for everything, but they're great for "big science" sites like the ones at CERN, featured here -- places best appreciated with all directions visible. Pete sends these links and says,

Whilst we ‘Big Science Porn’ (thank you for the term!) aficionados eagerly await the relaunch of the Large Hadron Collider this September, thought I’d share a few new Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment VR panoramas with you that were taken days before ‘first beam’ last year from numerous locations within Underground Experimental Cavern UXC55.

Here are the panoramas: (one, two, three, four, five, six) and there's another up from the CMS Centre (where data quality monitoring, detector calibration, data analysis and computing operations take place).

Previously on BB:
Excellent new CERN Hadron collider QTVR
CERN photos in Nat'l. Geo: The God Particle

[#1 posted by Francesco Fondi , February 27, 2009 10:57 AM]

Beautiful Hardware Porno!

[#2 posted by wispsmoke , February 27, 2009 11:55 AM]

My mind was clearly warped by Half-Life in adolescence-- especially with the ambient sound, I keep expecting to see some aliens or marines pop up and to start tapping keys and clicking like mad (also known as dodging and swinging a crowbar).

Seriously, though, these are awesome.

[#3 posted by Thorzdad , February 27, 2009 1:41 PM]

Big Science.
Alleluia.

It's stuff like this that makes me want my daughter to study physics in college. "Yeah...she's over at CERN for the summer." Talk about fatherly bragging rights.

[#4 posted by fltndboat , February 28, 2009 12:39 PM]

Ever been scared by the Boogie Man? This is simply the result of what happens when we don't recognize the notion that we just might be pissing off some Sentient Beings bigger than us that don't appreciate our low energy probes. Cosmic Rays are freely given. How big a machine is needed to make one?

[#5 posted by fltndboat , February 28, 2009 1:30 PM]

There was a choice to use the power of he Atom. Healthy Brains saw it as an opportunity to reduce our pain load. Diseased brains saw it as an opportunity for power. We be digital. First digit? Me? First digit You? Analogue brain can fly. Too bad your brain is attached to your body. Burp.

[#6 posted by EichaelThe0ne , March 1, 2009 5:05 AM]

This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my entire life.

Did anyone else notice the planks of wood in One? Nothing like galactic shims to keep a few strangelets in check.

[#7 posted by obeyken , March 1, 2009 11:23 AM]

OK someone *has* to make a FPS level out of this thing...

[#8 posted by Takuan , March 1, 2009 11:27 AM]

or a subatomic particle surfing game.