Status of ATLAS and Preparation for the Pb-Pb Run Original Research Article

The status and performance of the ATLAS detector will be discussed, with a view towards the Pb+Pb run expected in 2010. The ATLAS experiment took its first beam data in September 2008 and is actively preparing for the planned start of LHC collision data-taking in 2009. This preparation includes hardware and software commissioning, as well as calibration and cosmic data analysis.