Sol system
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There is more information available on this subject at Sol system on the English Wikipedia. |
The Sol system, otherwise referred to as the Solar System, is the home star system of the human species. The system's G-class star is named Sol, hence the system's name. It is most prominently home to Earth, humanity's homeworld and the capital of the Unified Earth Government, as well as many important human colonies which are based on its many planets, moons and asteroids. Many worlds in the system now house habitats suitable for human life, achieved either through extensive terraforming or the use of vacuum-sealed environments. Humanity first colonized the system's worlds beyond Earth in the late 21st and early 22nd centuries, followed by steady growth of the populations on Earth and the off-world colonies throughout the next two centuries before the launch of the first extrasolar colonization program in 2362, enabled by the development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine in 2291.[1]
Major planets and moons
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth - The human homeworld, home to the headquarters of the UEG and the UNSC.
- Luna- Earth's only natural satellite, home to a major human colony as well as the famed Luna OCS Academy.
- Mars - One of humanity's first interplanetary colonies, Mars has been terraformed to have an Earth-like climate. Was the site of a decisive battle in the Interplanetary Wars. Fell to the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War after the Battle of Mare Erythraeum.
- Jupiter - A gas giant, Jupiter is the largest planet in the Sol System.
- Io - The site of a UNSC listening post. On October 20, 2552, the listening post on Io detected 15 Covenant ships inbound under the command of the Prophet of Regret.[2]
- Europa - It contains a UNSC base and a substantial colony. Spartans Linda-058 and Will-043 were once assigned to a mission on this satellite.
- Callisto - The second-largest Jovian Moon. The site of the signing of the Callisto Treaty and a number of UNSC bases.
- Ganymede - The EVA Armor was developed here; also home to a number of colonists.
- Saturn - A gas giant known for its clearly visible surrounding rings, unlike the other gas giants whose rings are rather dim. Saturn is the second largest planet in the Sol System. Its practical uses to the UNSC are limited, and therefore it is mostly just a tourist destination.[3]
- Uranus - An icy gas giant about twice as far away as Saturn from Sol. Its distance from Sol makes it of little use to the UNSC.
- Neptune - Furthest away from Sol, it is another icy gas giant similar to Uranus.
Dwarf planets
- Ceres - The largest asteroid in the Sol system.
- Eris - Currently the largest Dwarf Planet known. It is 10 to 26 kilometers larger than Pluto in diameter.
- Pluto - Originally discovered in the 1930's and initially classified as the Solar System's ninth planet, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. The Pluto Slipstream monitoring station Democritus is stationed in orbit around it. On November 3, 2552, the Monitoring Station detected Cortana's signal in Slipspace with Dr. Halsey's message to Lord Hood. Pluto has three moons: Nix, Hydra, and Charon.
- Haumea - The most notable feature is its highly elliptical shape.
- Makemake - The second most distant dwarf planet, its lack of moons mean it and Ceres are the only two known dwarf planets orbiting Sol without moons.
Trivia
Sol is the original Latin and the actual scientific name for Earth's sun. This designation and name has actually been used instead of "Solar System" in many science fiction novels.
List of appearances
Sources
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia, pages 43-44 (2011)
- ^ Halo 2, campaign level, Cairo Station
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia, page 283
