Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 20:00:02 -0600
From: Hansen <>
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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

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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