# The Real Stars of Halo ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo.webp]] **Creator:** The Overview Effekt · **Published:** Oct 24, 2024 · **Length:** 32:26 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZpTjFCwqfE) ## Outline ### 00:00 Intro - Real stars and real distances are buried in the Halo lore. The creator built a 3D map of the Halo universe from real star data. He sorted out the inconsistencies, contradictions, and fan theories that pass for canon. ### 00:40 Halo backstory - The Precursors created the Forerunners and humans ~15 million years ago. An ancient human civilization existed millions of years ago. - The Precursors gave humans the "Mantle of Responsibility." In response, the Forerunners waged genocide against them ~10 million years ago, and later beat ancient humans and set them back to a primitive state. ### 01:29 Path Kethona - The Forerunners chased the Precursors out to **Path Kethona**, the real **Large Magellanic Cloud** about 163,000 ly away. - The surviving Precursors scattered as dust that became corrupted into **the Flood**. To fight it, the Forerunners built the **Greater Ark** and the Halo rings, a weapon that kills all complex life. - The first 12 Halos were 30,000 km across. They were too big for slipspace, so the **Lesser Ark (Installation 00)** built 6 smaller 10,000 km rings and one original ring was reused. Installation 08 and Installation 09 followed later (Halo 3 and Halo Wars 2). ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t0136.webp]] ### 03:10 Installation 00 - In canon, the Lesser Ark sits "beyond the rim," 2^18 = **262,144 ly** from the galactic center, above the galactic plane. - How the real galactic coordinate system works: Sol is the origin, 26,000 ly from the core. Longitude runs 0–360° and latitude is ±. The creator asks map makers to use this standard orientation. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t0315.webp]] - He corrects the galaxy scale from his earlier videos: "100,000 ly across" reaches well beyond the arms that artists usually draw. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t0430.webp]] ### 04:30 Halo Rings - Each ring has a Forerunner installation number and a UNSC Greek-letter name. **Installation 04 / Alpha Halo** (Halo CE) sits in the **Orion Arm/Spur** (~3,500 ly wide and ~20,000 ly long), ~60 ly from Sol. - **Installation 05 / Delta Halo** (Halo 2): the trip took 13 days in canon. However, the *Halo: Warfleet* book puts it ~50,000 ly away, on the far side of the galaxy. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t0555.webp]] ### 06:07 Slipspace - Slipspace is 11-dimensional, likely a nod to **M-theory**. Speed depends on drive quality, slipspace topology, and how consistent the authors were. - The human **Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine** does ~2–3 ly/day, which is why human space is ~100 ly across. Covenant drives (reverse-engineered Forerunner tech) do ≥900 ly/day. Forerunner Dreadnoughts do >2,000 ly/day. - **Causal reconciliation** removes paradoxes, but very large slipspace transits slow FTL for everyone. That traffic jam is why the Greater Ark's rings had to shrink. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t0650.webp]] ### 08:00 Back to the rings - *Warfleet* conflicts with the Halo Encyclopedia. Its layout would require ~4,000 ly/day for Delta Halo. Ordering the rings by installation number puts 05 ~10,000 ly away, and 900 ly/day × 13 days ≈ 11,700 ly fits that. - The Forerunner portal under the Earth desert (Halo 3) reaches the Ark in 21 days in canon. The monitor Tragic Solitude later makes it near-instant. - Installations 01, 02, and 06 never appear. **03 / Gamma Halo** was found by the freighter *Floral Express* after it fled the Battle of Tribute. It appears again in Halo 4 and is moved in *Halo: Escalation*. - **07 / Zeta Halo** (Halo Infinite) is a reused original ring. It was the Primordial's prison. The Primordial manipulated Mendicant Bias, was recaptured by the IsoDidact, and its mind lived on in the **Gravemind**. - Firing range: 343 Guilty Spark says a 25,000 ly "radius" (probably meaning diameter). All 7 rings together reach 3 galactic radii (~150,000 ly), just short of Path Kethona. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t1145.webp]] - **Requiem** (Halo 4) is in the fictional Epoloch system, 7,230 ly away. Covenant space spans a few thousand ly of the Orion Spur. The Forerunner homeworld **Ghibalb** and the shield world **Bastion** are in the real **Orion Complex**, ~1,400 ly away. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t1300.webp]] ### 13:00 Local Stars - Human space is ~100 ly across. Gaia has mapped ~2.5 billion objects, about 1% of the galaxy. This bubble holds over 4,000 known stars out of an estimated 10,000–60,000. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t1345.webp]] - By 2490 the UEG had 800+ colonies. The Halo Encyclopedia lists 170 of them, and ~30 are tied to real stars. Alpha Centauri was never colonized. On the map, stars are drawn ~½ ly wide; even Betelgeuse is only ~0.00013 ly across. - **Luyten 726-8** (8.77 ly): Luyten, the nearest colony, six days from Earth. - **Epsilon Eridani**: first colonized in 2362. It holds Reach (moons Turul and Csodaszarvas), where the Spartan program started and Master Chief trained; Reach fell in 2552. The other planets are Tribute, Beta Gabriel (ONI's UNSC Fathom), Circumstance, and Tantalus (the Tantalus 10,000 race). ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t1550.webp]] - **Tau Ceti** (11.9 ly): the Covenant station *Unyielding Hierophant*, destroyed by Blue Team. Tau Ceti is also the setting of Bungie's *Marathon*. - **Lacaille 9352**: where SHINOBI-class Mjolnir armor was found. **Groombridge 34** (11.6 ly): Construction Platform 966A, where Kurt-051 vanished (*Ghosts of Onyx*). - **Procyon** (11.46 ly): Arcadia (Halo Wars), later glassed. The inner and outer colony labels follow no clear distance rule. - **Ross 128**: Juneou. **Epsilon Indi** (11.83 ly): Harvest, the breadbasket world and site of first contact on Feb 3, 2525, later glassed. **82 Eridani** (non-canon candidate): Eridanus II, home of John-117 and Emile-A239. - **Beta Hydri** (24.33 ly): Halsey's Sanderson Private Hospital. **Zeta Tucanae** (28 ly): Far Isle/"Far-gone." **Gamma Pavonis** (30.21 ly): young Miranda Keyes rams a Covenant ship from the UNSC *Hilbert* (also Pav in the Bobiverse). - **Xi Boötis A** (21.8 ly): Cole's defense in 2528. **Wolf 1473** (42 ly): Coral. **Lambda Serpentis**: Jericho VII, glassed in 2535. **Psi Serpentis** (47.8 ly): the UNSC *Everest* nukes the gas giant Viperidae and briefly **stellifies** it. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t2145.webp]] - **18 Scorpii** (46.11 ly): Falaknuma, where the Exodus refugees end up. **Groombridge 1830** (29.93 ly): Battle of the Great Bear on Dec 24, 2530. **11 Leonis Minoris** (candidate): Leonis Minoris. **Theta Ursae Majoris** (44 ly): insurrection battles in 2501 and 2504 and the frigate *Bellicose*. - **26 Draconis**: Levosia, where the Callisto incident started the insurrection in 2494. **Gliese 777**: Cygnus and New Jerusalem. **51 Pegasi** (50.6 ly): Pegasi Delta deuterium mining and Operation: TORPEDO. - **Capella / Alpha Aurigae** (43 ly): Capella and the Origami asteroid field. **Lambda Aurigae** (40.7 ly): Roost. **111 Tauri** (48 ly): Victoria (*Ghosts of Onyx*). - **HD 69830** (41 ly): Y'Deio, the Kig-Yar home system with the moon Eayn of Chu'ot. **Alpha Corvi / Alchiba** (49 ly): Alpha Corvi II, which the UNSC abandoned. ### 26:30 Onyx - **Zeta Doradus**: Onyx is an artificial planet built from Sentinels around Shield World 006. That shield world is a 300 million km (2 AU) **Dyson sphere** compressed into a 23 cm slipspace bubble. It is also called Sarcophagus and ONI Research Facility Trevelyan. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t2645.webp]] ### 28:16 Alpha Halo - Installation 04 is in the fictional **Soell** system, named for a Bungie employee. Pseudo-canon places it at **Iota Horologii** (56 ly), where it orbits the gas giant Threshold at the L1 point with the moon Basis (Halo 2 map Burial Mounds). The *Pillar of Autumn* took just under 3 weeks from Reach. - An astrophysicist fan reached the same star in 2019, and the 343 creative director said "it might be there." 343 Industries became Halo Studios. ![[images/The Real Stars of Halo-t2840.webp]] - **23 Librae** (85 ly): Madrigal, the Rubble at gas giant Hesiod's L5 point, and Habitat Exodus. **Chi Ceti**: the Damascus Testing Facility where Mjolnir was born, and the UNSC's first win in 2525. **Algol** (90 ly, the farthest real star): Algolis, the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL mech (ancestor of the Mantis), and the founding of the Banished. - **Sigma Octanus** (the Keyes Loop) has no real match. Sigma Octantis is 294 ly away, too far for any colony. - Outro: the creator is disappointed with Halo's story after Halo 3. He thanks Reddit user Susto and Halopedia and plugs his Patreon. ## Things Mentioned ### Stars and astronomical objects Milky Way; Large Magellanic Cloud (Path Kethona); Orion Arm/Spur; Orion Complex/molecular cloud; Sol; Alpha Centauri; Betelgeuse; Luyten 726-8; Epsilon Eridani; Tau Ceti; Lacaille 9352; Groombridge 34; Procyon A/B; Ross 128; Epsilon Indi; 82 Eridani; Beta Hydri; Zeta Tucanae; Gamma Pavonis; Xi Boötis A; Wolf 1473; Lambda Serpentis; Psi Serpentis; 18 Scorpii; Groombridge 1830; 11 Leonis Minoris; Theta Ursae Majoris; 26 Draconis; Gliese 777; 51 Pegasi (Helvetios); Capella (Alpha Aurigae); Lambda Aurigae; 111 Tauri; HD 69830; Alpha Corvi (Alchiba); Zeta Doradus; Iota Horologii; 23 Librae; Chi Ceti; Algol; Sigma Octantis ### Halo locations, rings, and ships Greater Ark; Lesser Ark (Installation 00); Installations 01–09 (Alpha/04, Delta/05, Gamma/03, Zeta/07); Requiem; Ghibalb; Bastion; Reach; Harvest; Arcadia; Onyx/Shield World 006; Soell/Threshold/Basis; Madrigal/The Rubble/Habitat Exodus; Unyielding Hierophant; Pillar of Autumn; UNSC Hilbert; UNSC Everest; UNSC Gorgon; Floral Express; Bellicose ### Physics and science concepts Galactic coordinate system; light-year; AU; slipspace and M-theory (11 dimensions); FTL and causal reconciliation; Lagrange points (L1, L5); stellification; Dyson sphere; red dwarf habitability; binary and triple star systems ### Sci-fi works Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo Wars, Halo Wars 2, Halo Infinite; books *The Fall of Reach*, *Ghosts of Onyx*, *Contact Harvest*, *Halo: Warfleet*, the Forerunner saga, *Halo Encyclopedia* (2022); comic *Halo: Escalation*; *Marathon*; *Mass Effect* (music); Bobiverse; *Star Trek: TNG* (Picard, Dyson sphere, Picard Maneuver); *Harry Potter* ("Levi-O-sa") ### Tools and sources Blender; AT-HYG star database; Gaia observatory; Halopedia; Halo Waypoint; Reddit user Susto; Gregersen, *The Milky Way and Beyond*; A&A paper on the Orion distance; Sketchfab "Halo Ring" model by Inditrion Dradnon; Gaia EDR3 LMC image (Kevinmloch); Proton VPN (sponsor); Patreon ## Biographies - **The Overview Effekt**: a YouTube channel that makes Blender-rendered 3D maps placing real stars and spaceflight history in context, including the Stellar Cartography and Sci-Fi Megastructures series. The creator narrates with self-deprecating humor and cites sources in each description. - **Master Chief (John-117)**: the main character of Halo, a SPARTAN-II trained on Reach and from Eridanus II. - **Dr. Catherine Halsey**: the scientist behind the SPARTAN-II program and Mjolnir. She leads the team that opens Onyx. - **Miranda Keyes / Captain Jacob Keyes**: UNSC officers. Miranda rammed a Covenant ship at Gamma Pavonis; Jacob is known for the Keyes Loop at Sigma Octanus. - **Admiral Preston J. Cole**: a UNSC naval hero (Xi Boötis, Groombridge 1830, Roost). - **343 Guilty Spark**: the monitor of Installation 04, quoted on the Halo firing range. - **Mendicant Bias / The Primordial / IsoDidact / Gravemind**: Forerunner-era figures tied to Zeta Halo and the Flood. - **Sergeant Johnson**: a UNSC marine, quoted on the Unyielding Hierophant. - **Kurt-051, Emile-A239, Owen-B096**: Spartans tied to Groombridge 34, Eridanus, and Jericho VII. - **Bungie / 343 Industries / Halo Studios**: Halo's original developer, the studio that took over after Microsoft, and that studio's 2024 rebrand. - **Reddit user Susto**: the community researcher thanked for the star data compilation.