Asteroid

There is more information available on this subject at Asteroid on the English Wikipedia.

One of Epsilon Eridani's two asteroid belts.

An asteroid is a naturally occurring solid object that is smaller than a planet. They are often found in asteroid belts orbiting a star or in planetary ring systems. Asteroids may also occur scattered in orbital Lagrange points.

Uses

Some asteroids have been converted by humanity to serve as colony habitats or military bases. While many asteroids are too small to maintain sufficient gravitational pull or atmosphere on their outer surfaces despite advanced terraforming technology, this shortcoming can be surmounted by constructing the habitat into the hollowed-out interior of the asteroid, with simulated gravity provided by the centrifugal force of the asteroid's spin. Notable examples of such asteroids were the Insurrectionist hideouts Eridanus Secundus and the Rubble, the latter being a remarkable feat of engineering, composed of hundreds of asteroids with independent propulsion systems connected by flexible docking tubes.

The Covenant used asteroids such as K7-49 as refineries and shipyards. The Kig-Yar home system, the Y'Deio system, is home to an exceedingly large asteroid field which is home to many Kig-Yar colonies.

Asteroids have also seen weaponized uses in space engagements. In a skirmish following the Callisto Incident in 2494, an asteroid was used by the Insurrectionists to gain a tactical advantage in battle, using a outward-facing nuclear explosive device buried in an asteroid, greatly increasing the destructive power of the weapon in vacuum environment by providing enough reactive mass to destroy one UNSC ship and cripple two. Forerunner warships, such as Harrier-class vessels, were equipped with "gravity slings", gravitic weapons which allowed them to propel asteroids or other small objects at great velocities and use them as projectiles. A notable advantage of this over the more common directed energy weapons was the vessel's ability to remain untraceable. This tactic was used by the Forerunners to their great advantage in the battle at Path Terrulian during the Forerunner-Flood war.

Known asteroids or asteroid belts

• T'vao
• Dal'koth
• Ivanoff Station
• Bonanza asteroid belt
• Eridanus asteroid belt
  • Eridanus Secundus
• Coral asteroid belt
• Indra Asteroid Cluster
• Origami Asteroid Field
• The Rubble
• K7-49
• Sothra Hakkor ring system
• A'zhd

Trivia

The depictions of asteroid belts in Halo: Reach and Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp follow a common popular culture depiction of an asteroid belt, where the asteroids float in an extremely dense field within visible distance of each other. In real life, asteroids are spaced millions of kilometers apart and it would be highly unlikely to even see one when passing through an asteroid field.

Gallery

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  An asteroid belt in Halo: Reach.

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  Eridanus Secundus and the Eridanus asteroid belt.

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  A view of the Rubble.

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  Another view of the Rubble.

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  Infinity collides with an asteroid.

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  The freighter Laden traversing through the Eridanus system's asteroid belt.

List of appearances

Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance) Halo: First Strike Halo: Ghosts of Onyx Halo: Contact Harvest (Mentioned only) Halo: The Cole Protocol Halo Wars: Genesis Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole Halo Legends The Babysitter Halo: Reach Dr. Halsey's personal journal (Mentioned only) Halo: Fall of Reach Boot Camp

Halo 4 Halo: Silentium Halo: Spartan Assault Halo: Initiation Halo: Escalation Halo: Mortal Dictata Halo: Broken Circle Halo 2: Anniversary Terminals Halo: Fleet Battles Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series Halo 5: Guardians Halo: Envoy Halo Infinite (Mentioned only) Halo: The Television Series