- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
First off, I support this theory. In fact, I'll go so far as to build on to it. Everything that has been said is logical, besides it being a communication beacon. If you remember, the beacon from Delta halo was fired from the inside of the sructure to the outside. That means that it requires two signals to meet to created what happened on Delta. Now, unless something is communicating through the eye of the storm (in the Halo 3 trailer) with what we saw, a warning beacon seems unlikely.
However, one part of the trailer caught my eye. It was right as the structure was lighting up, and had naught but a blue, eerie aura around it. Take a look. Now, look on the exterior of Delta halo. You see a similar blue light.
Upon inspection of the 'exterior of Delta halo' screen, I saw that the original poster was indeed correct about the 14 panels on the smaller circles, and it was very prominent on the larger one that they came in pairs, just like the structure in the trailer. Now look at another screen that I took after blowing up the Delta halo picture. You see the faint blue glow in the center of the circles, and you see the 14/12 panels. Look here.
And finally, one thing that nobody (I think) has touched on. Do the panels really need to stay up? Maybe they are just traveling upwards because of some process in the activation of the structure. After it is activated, the panels go down and lay flat. Why would I mention this, especially if my theory seems to state that Halo is firing? Indeed, if Halo fired, there would be no need to mention the panels dropping back down. We'd all be dead.
I am not suggesting that it's a warning beacon, and I'm not suggesting it's firing. I'm certainly not suggesting it's a Scarab blast (though I have no objection to the theory, I don't support it). What am I suggesting? Halo is booting up. The covenant have found it, they've found a button (for lack of better words), and they've pressed it, not knowing what it was. Now this halo's own gravity is starting up, its habitats are starting to shoot up, and its structures have gotten an energy source.
Now I'll come back to why the panels would drop down again. If you look at the screenshot, you'll see that the panels are not up, and rays of blue light are not shooting out of the holes. Now look at this screenshot and you'll see that when the panels are down, they actually do not cover the circle part of the structure. Compare this to the Delta halo screenshot I presented before, and you'll see I am right. I suspect that the giant blast of light shoots up as we see in the trailor, and then simmers down, fading to a blue light like we saw in the screenshot.
Now, there are a few possible outcomes to this theory. One is that Earth will be destroyed by the new gravitational pull of halo or even something else, and all that will stand in its place is another halo. Another (though the most unlikely) is that Earth has a hollow area around the halo, and you could go into Earth and walk around the halo. Not really possible. The third theory is that you can walk inside of this halo. In other words, it is hollow. Either it is one big building or something, or it is an enclosed, artificial habitat. Either way, it supports the theory.
Just something to chew on.
[Edited on 5/17/2006]