2011

The first fully instrumented physics run, IC86, begins

Though IceCube had been taking data since 2005, it didn’t begin full operations until May 13, 2011, when the detector took its first set of data as a completed instrument. This is known as a “physics run.” Since then, IceCube has collected data continuously.

This photo from January 2011 shows some IceCube collaborators at the South Pole conducting test runs to prepare for the full physics runs that would start just a few months later. Credit: Sebastian Böser