- an REG Omega
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- Exalted Legendary Member
Many have suggested that the dome is the Ark. I do not believe that this is the case.
The dome has fourteen plates covering it and is approximately three miles in diameter. If one looks at the main menu in the original Halo, when the camera passes over the ringworld's exterior we see domes in a geometric pattern, with very large ones in the center and pairs of smaller ones on either side.
In the books, we learn that Halo 04 is approximately 23 miles wide at any given point. Given the ratio of how large the smaller domes are compared to the width of the entire ring, that means the small domes are about 3 miles wide. Upon close inspection, one can see that they have 14 plates covering them, as opposed to twelve on the larger domes.
Now, what purpose could these domes possibly have?
Halo 04 was located at Lagrange point L1, directly between Threshold and Basis, in the only point of orbit where the gravity of both bodies is cancelled out by the other. This would require unthinkable precision to maintain such an orbit for thousands of years... without adjustment. I believe the domes are, in essence thrusters. In case the ring's orbit destabilized, one or more of the dozens of thrusters on its outside edge could be fired in order to correct the problem.
Even if the ring didn't destabilize, we can see that it does rotate in a way that gravity from Threshold would place enormous strain on its structure. The hologram in the control room depicts Halo 04's orbit, but if you go to Blood Gulch, say, the view of the planet and it's moon are wrong in the sky. Halo is not perpendicular to its orbit, therefore it is not in null gravity at the extreme points of the ring. Concievably, such gravitational force could pull it apart... unless the ring were being stabilized with the thrusters, firing at both ends to counteract both gravity from the planets and each other.
Why would the ring rotate at all?
Cortana said that the ring's creators perhaps wanted a natural weather cycle. Without rotating as it does, Halo would have days and nights reminiscient of Antarctica, rather than 18 hours of light and 8 of darkness at any given point. Rotating the ring would allow this. A perpendicular orbit would not.
I believe that the Covenant dug up one of these thrusters on Earth. Now, what you've got to ask yourself is this: what could have possibly altered Earth's orbit so it would be used? Or, will the Covenant's activation of it possibly alter Earth's orbit?
Your thoughts, please.
[Edited on 5/18/2006]