RHIC has been designed so that when the gold nuclei collide, they do so at the center of the STAR detector. When this happens, it will be like a nucleus-sized Big Bang. Scientists believe these collisions will produce the primordial soup from which our Universe was built. This photograph shows two of STAR's major components. The Time Projection Chamber, cloaked within its silver shipping blanket, is about to be slipped inside the huge, powerful steel-blue magnet assembly.  The magnet helps the scientists determine the speed of the particles emitted in each mini-Big Bang.  And when these events occur, the Time Projection Chamber will allow us to witness them.