.RHIC is an intersecting storage ring particle accelerator. Two independent rings (arbitrarily denoted as "Blue" and "Yellow") circulate heavy ions and/or polarized protons in opposite directions and allow a virtually free choice of colliding positively charged particles (the eRHIC upgrade will allow collision s between positively and negatively charged particles). The RHIC double storage ring is hexagonally shaped and has a circumference of , with curved edges in which stored particles are deflected and focused by 1,740 superconducting magnets using niobium-titanium conductors. The dipole magnets operate at . The six interaction points (between the particles circulating in the two rings) are in the middle of the six relatively straight sections, where the two rings cross, allowing the particles to collide. The interaction points are enumerated by clock positions, with the injection near 6 o'clock. Two large experiments, STAR and PHENIX, are located at 6 and 8 o'clock respectively. The PHENIX experiment is presently undergoing a major upgrade to become sPHENIX.