Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 20:00:02 -0600 From: Hansen <hansen@phonet.com> X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: halo@bungie.org Subject: Orbits/Seasons/Communications If Halo were to be set in a geosynchronous orbit. With half of the ring always in shadow behind Threshold. Then as the ring rotated to maintain gravity the half in darkness would be like night for a set period of time. In Peter Streickers diagram it even appears that this might be the case. It is however difficult to tell where the orientation that this is the sun's orientation. If this is the case then at certain times Basis might also eclipse portions of Halo for brief periods. This positioning would give Halo an interesting weather system. Air currents that had been heated by direct sunlight would cool rapidly at night producing storms. The opposite would happen during the day when cold air was rapidly warmed creating a moist, humid concentration of water in the air. Perfect elements for building a classy storm. The ring's Coriolis force would have the side effect of feeding rotational energy to these large masses of hot and cold air. As would the natural convection that might occur between the two halves of the ring. Causing large unpredictable storms over areas of extreme temperature changes like deserts. Also if Halo were locked into a geosynchronous orbit it would follow Threshold in a elliptical orbit as was mentioned in Mikkel Eriksen's theory as to how Halo's seasons are stimulated. These periods of heating or cooling (dependent on distance to the star) would be an excentuating force on the already potent weather conditions (this could explain large amounts of cloud cover in many screenshots). Brian Norton believes otherwise. Brian, if the Earth were a few million miles closer to or farther from the sun, life on earth would not be possible, all water would either freeze, or be boiled off. As an example look at our two closest planetary bodies. Venus and Mars. Unfortunately because of Venus's rather unpleasant atmosphere it is hard to get a picture of my example and Mars lacks a thick enough atmosphere. Planets being closer to the sun receive a larger amount of solar radiation than do planets farther away. This is because sunlight is not coherent like a laser. As sunlight radiates from its source it spreads and becomes less coherent. Therefore planets like Pluto, receive far less solar radiation than planets that are closer like Mercury. If Halo was positioned in stable orbit with a planet whose orbit was slightly erratic, varying its distance to the sun by enough distance on a fairly regular basis then yes, seasons could be possible. They would however be extreme. And from Matt Shears. The ring itself would not have to rotate on 3 axis to maintain day and night, but might possibly affect seasons, by axial twisting. I also had an idea that solar wind reacting with the upper atmosphere could cause a large number of ion storms (not like the Aurora Borealis, much stronger, different effects) this could make long distance communications very difficult with the added interference in the atmosphere. Please feel free to criticize or add to my theories here. My goal is to gain knowledge from other peoples insight into the matters at hand with Halo. No one ever learns by not failing sometime in life, and I enjoy being purely wrong, it teaches me humility and lets me learn from my mistakes. But if I am wrong educate me and do not simply tell me I am full of hot air. But remember, none of us has all the facts concerning Halo. |
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