The neutrino flavour oscillations hypothesis has been confirmed by several
experiments, all are based on the observation of the disappearance of a given
neutrino flavour. The long baseline neutrino experiment OPERA (Oscillation
Project with Emulsion tRacking Apparatus) aims to give the first direct proof
of the tau neutrino appearance in a pure muon neutrino beam (CERN Neutrinos to
Gran Sasso beam). In 2008 the OPERA experiment has started full data taking
with the CNGS beam and around 1700 interactions have been recorded. The
experiment status and the first results from the 2008 run are presented.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures Lake Louise Winter Institute 2009 conferenc