Threshold

Threshold is a planet in the Soell star system. It is an immense gas giant with a radius of 107,302 km (66,674.5 miles), and one natural satellite, Basis which has a radius of 11,924 kilometers. The atmosphere is made up of white Ammonia clouds, amber-colored Ammonium Hydrosulfide clouds, Phosphorus compounds, ice crystals and other gases. Threshold is known to have storms in its atmosphere similar to the storms that occur on the planet Jupiter, since a large storm raged during the battle on the gas mine. Threshold was a neutral location.

Threshold's Earth Survey Catalog number is B1008-AG.

Forerunner activity
Over 100,000 years ago, Threshold was a part of the sizable and extensive Forerunner empire. They built at least one automated, viable gas mine complex in the upper atmosphere of the planet, likely harvesting the hydrogen gas of the planet. The hydrogen was probably used as transmutation material for construction, though this is not confirmed.

Several hundred or thousand years later, upon the discovery of the Flood, the Forerunners refitted the gas mines to serve as Flood research facilities. These facilities proved only one thing: more extreme measures were needed to combat the Flood and to keep them from spreading. The Forerunners then chose the planet as a staging point to construct one of their massive fortress worlds, known as Halo and numbered as Installation 04. The Halo was constructed on the Lagrange point between Threshold and Basis and was designed to destroy all sentient life in the galaxy, thereby halting the spread of the Flood, due to starvation.

In 2552, the Covenant were looking for an artifact from Sigma Octanus IV to uncover this planet as the location of the "Sacred Ring", in order to start the Great Journey. The Fleet of Particular Justice followed the UNSC Pillar of Autumn there, and, in a series of events, Installation 04 was destroyed. In the Skirmish over Threshold after the ring's destruction, Cortana was able to jump into slipspace with the Covenant flag ship Ascendant Justice while in Threshold's atmosphere.

The Heretics then took refuge on the gas mine (they had been based at a makeshift camp on Basis until this point) before the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadamee, and his Special Ops troops dropped it into Threshold's depths. High Charity and its fleet briefly visited Threshold as well, until they jumped to Installation 05.

Later in October, the UNSC prison ship ended up picking up Covenant survivors over Threshold including one infected by the Flood. ONI began experiments with the Flood on the ship before the Flood escaped and the Mona Lisa was destroyed by a nuclear missile fired by the. Also in the system at the time was a single Covenant ship apparently left behind to monitor or guard the Halo's remains, which were gradually being pulled into Threshold and destroyed.

Size
Threshold is an immense gas giant, far larger than Jupiter from the Sol System. Its moon, Basis, is in fact the size of a huge rock planet. Basis' diameter is nearly double that of the Earth.

Trivia

 * The inner core of Threshold is solid nitrogen, as told by 343 Guilty Spark, during the battle with the Heretic Leader, Sesa 'Refumee.
 * Threshold is described as purple in the book, Halo: The Flood, though throughout Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, it is only shown as orange. Also, the planet is depicted as being light blue in the upcoming motion comic adaptation of The Mona Lisa. This may be caused by the position of the system's sun at different times or the proximity to the gas giant.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Assault Rifle's compass arrow points at the gas giant. This suggests that Threshold's atmosphere contains a large amount of ferrous particles, such as iron, or that the assault rifles use a digital compass and that the Alpha Halo happens to be situated so that Threshold is aligned with the rifle's north during the events of the game.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo 2
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Mona Lisa