File:Human Sphere Map.png

General information
A semi-abstract astrographic map of the Human Sphere. See that page for a full description and information on the systems and colonies shown. The Cartography page also has some relevant general information.

For a searchable PDF version, see File:Human Sphere PDF.pdf.

For a full list of the systems on the map, including the real-life names of systems with actual stars assigned, see this table.

Caveats

 * The map is an attempt to combine the best bits of Halo lore and real-life astronomy in ways that make sense. All deviations from Halo canon are made deliberately, either for worldbuilding/cohesion or presentation reasons.


 * The star locations are skewed by the flattening of 3D space into a 2D plane, and relative distances between stars are increasingly inaccurate the further one goes from Sol. All star locations on the map are depicted relative to their distance from Earth and ignore elevation, i.e. declination. However, all stars should mostly be in the right direction relative to Sol. As a result, some stars shown on the map as being far apart can in truth be close to one another, and vice versa. However, all stars within a sector can be assumed to be reasonably close to one another.


 * The colored slices make up distinct clusters of colonies generally identified as regions. Unless inter-regional connections are shown on the map, it can generally be assumed that colonies in two neighboring but distinct regions are not spatially proximate to one another; the more extreme the elevation difference, the more extreme their spatial separation.


 * Though the Sectors are depicted as perfect slices of a circle, this is an abstraction for presentation reasons. Most of the sectors encompass areas of space that are in reality far more amorphous. In 3D space, the sectors' exact shape and size varies, and they can be represented in various ways. Interstellar navigators use holographic 3D models which provide a more accurate picture.


 * I relocated Harvest from Epsilon Indi to a made-up system, Heimdall, which for now hasn't been assigned to a real star. I know slipspace can skew real-world distances, but I like to keep the astrography at least somewhat consistent, and throwing out all the rules with real-world distances makes things a lot less appealing.


 * Likewise, Procyon is relocated to a system I called Peloponnesus, which at the moment hasn't been assigned to a real star. Like Harvest, this was done because Procyon is practically next door to Earth in the greater scheme of things, and it stretches credibility that the Covenant would hit places so close in the first years of the war, on top of those places being regarded as outer colonies.


 * Sigma Octanus is an oddity. "Sigma Octantis" is a real star, but it's 281 LY away and doesn't make so much sense as an Inner Colony, plus the star type doesn't match with TFoR. As I couldn't find any stars in the Octans constellation that made sense, I just made the location up while still keeping it in the general ballpark of the Octans constellation. The name is difficult to make sense out of, but we'll just have to assume there's an interesting story behind it.


 * There is an exact distance given in light years for the jump between Cygnus and Biko in one of the adjunct stories shipped with the First Strike reissue, but I had to ignore it because I couldn't conceivably fit Biko in the same region as Cygnus and have it make sense. Namely: I want the Covenant's advance pattern throughout the human sphere to be as coherent as possible, and Biko (attacked in 2526) and Cygnus (attacked in 2552) being in the same neighborhood don't really gel. On top of that, Silent Storm (which is still mostly canon here) puts Biko near a number of outer colonies hit in the first year of the war, which is why I decided to place it in the same general area as Harvest.

Changelog
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27 September 2020

 * Overhaul of the route network, particularly in the Inner Colonies, to better match known stars' relative positions.
 * Inner Loop renamed to Core Trunk
 * Relocated Hesperia to Attican Sector
 * Morgenstern moved to Gasparo (now HD122862)
 * Specified Draco system as HD 193664
 * 23 and 16 Librae moved to Marani sector
 * Epsilon Librae moved to Mauro sector
 * Bayard / Cote d'Azure identified as HD 11232, moved from Merida to Marani Sector
 * Kolaqoa specified as HD101805
 * Relocated Athos/Passage, identified as HD134606
 * Redstow moved to Polona sector
 * Peloponnesus moved to Gasparo sector
 * Dagmar's Star/Carrow moved to Mirata Sector
 * Nussbaum moved to Lehto sector, identified with real-world star 104 Tauri
 * Camber moved to Hubble sector
 * 56 Aurigae moved to Lehto sector
 * Sarona system is now HD55575 (Lynx constellation)
 * Avalon identified as HD 150706
 * Gliese 710 system reidentified as HD 33564 (named Harmachis)
 * Nyoo Oktaaviya moved to Thule Sector
 * Emerald Cove system changed from Gliese 884 to made-up Mathani (for now)
 * Added New Utgard to Epsilon Indi
 * Harmony changed to recoverable
 * Phi2 Orionis (Shenzen) system now named Tianxia
 * 23 Ursae Majoris given the name Anaria
 * Added Crystal to Gamma Leporis system
 * Soell is now the real-world star Iota Horologii as originally suggested by Bungie

8 October 2020

 * Changed some sliplanes surrounding Circinius IV to make it more strategically significant
 * Added UNSC base icons to Delta Pavonis and 18 Scorpii

16 October 2020

 * Moved Ectanus 45 to Malabar sector and Charybdis IX to the Dolinar sector (both in S2) to better match the course of events in H:TCP
 * Added military base icon to Minister
 * Added AK Pictoris and New Darmstadt to patch in the absence created by the move of Ectanus 45 and Charybdis

17 October 2020
Fleshed out Covenant outposts along crossing routes.
 * Supersector 1:
 * Added Phi Eridani, Iota Eridani, Gamma Eridani, HD 44497 and Mu Orionis systems
 * Supersector 2:
 * Changed Tempest Crossing to pass through the Ven system; added Ven III and Gaar Lem
 * Added the Idal'wun, Aduna, Riaal, Emiw, Dursos, Beta Corvi, Beta Volantis and Einjel systems
 * Supersector 4: Identified various invasion corridor systems


 * Re-connected the Pegasus Traverse to the Pleiades Corridor; added 6 G. Piscium

6 November 2020

 * Rerouted Core Trunk directly from Sol to Delta Pavonis
 * Removed Hesperides Group as an artifact of an older concept

10 January 2021

 * Minor tweaks to routes (Cygnus-Hestia and Cygnus-Csere's Star)

31 January 2021

 * Minor tweaks to routes
 * Added more system icons (e.g. Draco, Fumirole), made Fumirole a recovery project + colored system icons (partly WIP still)

12 February 2021

 * Added Phocis to Groombridge 34 system
 * Minor tweaks to some routes
 * Removed references to nebulae since actual nebulae don't exist this close to Earth; any nebula-like formations would be far smaller and likely less dense, somewhat like the Local Interstellar Cloud surrounding Sol.

14 July 2021

 * Multiple updates across the board; rethought some routes to make more astrographical sense, added & renamed some systems
 * Added more distance labels across the grid to make the map easier to read
 * Added Sedra & Sansar
 * Renamed Lehto & Hannaford sectors since those names are being used elsewhere and I don't want to oversaturate Daybreak with dev references
 * Split up Great Bear region from Orion-Eridanus, refined various regional "borders"

16 July 2021

 * Changed Moebius to New Carthage; will use Moebius name elsewhere
 * Added Micronesia (to explain Micronesia reference in TFoR; it's not likely that Blue Team stopped for a counterinsurgency op on Earth on the way to Sigma Octanus)
 * Various minor adjustments

24 October 2021

 * Established the Aneirin system as Gliese 876

4 January 2022

 * Numerous updates across the board; introduced system of "regions" signifying the relative elevation of given sectors to make astrography more consistent
 * Named all remaining sectors in the grid

19 May 2022

 * Added Alabaster / Concord, moved Ensei / Long Shot
 * Orrichon / Sedra (merged into the Voy system, Sedra removed
 * Moved Ford to Voy system
 * Identified Hellespont with Gliese 588
 * Renamed Amasa's system to Zeruiah
 * Igdras now hosts both Etalan & Green Hills
 * Moved Aksum / Asmara to Merida Sector
 * Escurial is now called the Metrome system
 * Added Amalfi / BXR-730 to Clavain Sector
 * Changed the name of Dagmar's Star to Holdhome
 * Added Casmir to 70 Ophiuchi
 * Added Dryad to Guniibuu
 * Changed Dwarka's system to Chosolor
 * Changed Agathos to Farfield
 * Added Galodew to Redstow
 * 72 Herculis renamed to Timmerick
 * Added Titus to Beta Hydri
 * 61 UMA renamed to Thia
 * Moved Juneou to Ross 128
 * Added Thales to Gamma Leporis
 * Changed Taube to Tanuab, added Tanuab III
 * Renamed 13 Orionis to Constance
 * Fractus Belt moved to August system
 * 56 Aurigae renamed to Coramir
 * Removed Yuna, moved Glacier to Orso system
 * Moved Feresa to Heliades sector
 * Moved FarGone to Zeta Tucanae, Galari Sector
 * Moved Nestor's Landing to Theta UMa, Gemini sector
 * Sansar moved to 19 Draconis system
 * Oban moved to Pi UMi / Visper

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To do

 * Separate post-war and war-era maps to avoid clutter
 * More points of interest?
 * Separate icons for types of industry? (i.e. materials extraction vs. end production)