- B -
Bakersfield – <David Darke – MTH> A planet with Alphane remains called the Crystal Grotto.
Balcescu – <CoG> A star system in V, StC – F7; HL – 23,32. The sole habitable planet in the system is Debrecen. Balcescu is "over" 200 LY from Erewhon.
Balcescu Station – <CoG> A space station in orbit above Debrecen. It was falling from lack of maintenance when Jessyk Combine and Manpower Inc. came calling and struck a deal with the local authorities. Since then it has been running divided into two parts, a rundown trading depot and a segregated slave market, which was Manpower's main depot in the stellar neighbourhood.
Balthazar – <ABF> A star system, Toby Mednick's family relocated from there to Sphinx in in 1521 P.D.
Baltron-January 2479 – <Timothy Zahn – SotS> A 5-kilometer diameter comet in the Tyler’s Star System. Also known as the Sun Skater Holiday Resort.
Barnes – <EoH> A star system, in MA possesion in EoH. It was hit by forces under Citizen Admiral Thomas Theisman when Eight Fleet was forced to withdraw temporarily from Trevor's Star to Basilisk after Operation Icarus.
Barnett – <SVW, IEH, EoH, AoV, WarH, JHRN, HoS> A star system in PRH, StC – G9; HL – 18,04. It's 127 LY from Haven, 146 LY from Yeltsin and 168 LY from Cerberus. It has one habitable planet Enki. The outermost system sensor shell is placed at 17 LM and its passive reach can detect a hyper footprint of an incoming vessel the size of a dispatch boat at “two and a half light weeks”. As the third largest naval base in PRH, Barnett was "intended as the jump-off point for the war" against Manticore.
Barstool – <ABF, TW> A planet G – 0,75; where one of the twelve sentinent species discovered by humanity lived. Unfortunately the Amphors weren't discovered by the original survey team because they build their dwellings underwater to hide from land predators. Ranking probably around 0,7 on the sentinence scale, considerably behind Old Earth's dolphins, they were declared animals by the local government and hunted to virtual extinction in less than 30 T-Years. This action was widely condemed, earning the planed a terrible reputation, a business boycott and an official resolution by the SL Assembly.
Basilica – <SoSag> The habitable world of Nuncio A, O – 12; AT – 3. It boasts a planetary environment any resort world might have envied "with a planetary mass 97% of Old Earth's, a hydrosphere of 80%, rugged mountains, gorgeous volcanic atolls, sandy beaches, endless rolling plains", Basilica is as close to climatically idyllic as any home for humans outside man's original star system can hope to be. Unfortunaetly a successful colonization requires a degree of subtle genetic manipulation of terrestrial plants, which fact was unknown in time of the first colonization attempt, causing it to fail.
Basilisk – <All -OBS, CoS, ABF, HTBu9, ART, GNLH, FS, SoF, B, TW, CoG, ACtD> A star system in SKM / SEM, StC – G5 [See 1)]; HL – 19,80. Discovered in 1856 P.D. along with the newly explored sixth termini of MWJ. There is one settled planet in the system called Medusa. Basilisk, which is 210 LY from Manticore, was annexed by SKM in 1865 P.D. Due to political infighting and the presence of a native sentient species on Medusa the full formal inclusion into SKM was delayed until 1901 P.D., when PRH unsuccessfully attempted to seize the system. The local MWJ termini has a volume of "half light second" and is around 600 LM from the star. Basilisk's astrophysical position places it between the western border of PRH and SC, additionally the Tellerman Wave one of the "Roaring Deeps", "the most poverfull grav waves ever charted", lies barely 1 LM from the system and leads "almost directly twoards PRH". The system lies in a region where stars are "sparse" and there is "little of intrinsic worth between Manticore and" itself. One of the systems attacked by PRH forces during Operation Icarus.
Beatá (Casmir II) – <IFF> The second of the two settled planets in the Casmir System. In terms of suitability for settlement Beatá, being 20% larger and 2 LM further from the system primary, is "a much nicer proposition" than Anná.
Bellerophon – <ABF, HoS> One of Sphinx's two moons. D ~ 0,03 (426 km); O – 332,000 km. There is some mining taking place on the moon.
Beowulf – <All -FiE, CoW, JRMN, ABF, HTBu9, GNLH, FS> 1) The settled planet in the Sigma Draconis System, G – 1,21 [See 2)]. Earth's first colony established around 126 P.D. [See 3)]. The homeworld of an intelligent species called Gremlins. The planet is dry and dusty by the standards of most human-inhabited worlds. It has enormous continents and few but deep seas. The absence of mountains and an extreme axial tilt make its climate a "continental" one, with long, hot summers and extremely cold winters. Thanks to the close distance from Earth and the fact the the colonists brought with themselves a fully funcional tech base, Beowulf never experienced any decivilizing stages in its history. Instead it remains at the cutting age of sciences, especially life-sciences. Beowulf is known for advanced biosciences and a rigid moral code regarding their use. This code allowes research and work within the human genome but bannes changeing it. Prolong and the perfected impeller drive, arguably some of the most influential scientific breakthroughs, were made here. Beowulf is also known for sophisticated and relaxed sexual mores that make it almost more famous throught the galaxy than its scientific achivements. The planet is ruled by a Board fo Directors elected by lower level boards representing proffesions rather than geographical districts. The planetary capital is Columbia but it's only the second largest city. The largest one is Grendel, famous among other things as the location of Muckerjee's Treats, an ice cream palor serving the best ice cream "anywhere in the inhabitated galaxy". Beowulf being the oldest human colony world is nowadays rather closed to imigrants. Unless a person has highly desirable skills, money or some other comodity the process of acquiring citizenship takes "a very long time". An exception is made for escaped genetic slaves. Beowulf maintains a very close relationship with Manticore, e.g. the Beowulf System Defence Force conducts joint excercises with RMN, SKM supports Beowulf in its fight against the genetis slave trade, Manticore is Beowulf's biggest trading partner and finally Manticorans and Beowulfers had been intermarrying since the discowery of MWJ. Beowulf's second most important trading and familial neighbour is Heimdall. 2) The commonly used name for the Sigma Draconis System.
Bersuk (Delta Draconis II) – <ToF> The settled planet in the Aldib System, G - "slightly above Earth's". Named after a Wendish forest god, Brestuk's oceans are few and small. The resulting climate can be called "continental" where "the summers are bad and the winters are terrible". Brestuk's fruit is dense, more akin to Earth's nuts.
Betelgeuse – <CoG> A star system.
Blackbird– <All -OBS, IEH, MtH, WoH, CoW, SoSag, CoS, JRMN, ToF, IFF, ABF, HTBu9, FS, SoF, TW, CoG, ACtD> A moon of Uriel, O – 0,11 [See 4)]; D - 0,63 [See 5)]. It has an atmosphere composed mostly of hydrogen and a “low gravity”. Balckbird Yard, capable of producing superdrednaughts, was built in orbit by Grayson Sky Domes in co-operation with the Hauptman Cartel. It was here that the first SD(P) the GSN Honor Harrington was built. Blacbird Yard was destroyed during operation Oyster Bay.
Bolthole – <WarH, AAC, SftS, MoH, ART> The codename of a star system. According to ONI intelligence the system was settled in secret by the late PRH on President Harris' and Admiral Amos Parnell's orders in an effort to build a navy R&D center with huge yards on par with any others inside PRH. After the downfall of the Legislaturists, the CoPS, and after its downfall the new RoH took over the project which purpose was to find ways to overcome SKM's technological superiority. The system is under the command of Admiral Shannon Foraker. In ART SEM still doesn't know the location of Bolthole.
Boniface – <CoS, ACtD> A planet in SL where a rebellion of local inhabitants against the central government took place. A well known episode in the recent history of SLN because the rebels were fanatical and better armed than usuall. Because of that the solarian forces suffered 30% casualties and the insurgents 100%. The rebellion was triggered by the depredations of the conglomerate in control of Boniface – Jessyk Combine.
Brennan – <WarH> A star system in SC.
Breslau – <HAE, WarH, B> A star system "on the western edge of" SC. The capital system of the Breslau Sector.
Brinkman – <HAE, SotS> A star system in the Breslau Sector of SC.
Broadhurst – <WarH> A star system in SC.
1) Basilisk's StC is held consistently thruought the sereis as G5, the only exception is EoH when the PRH makes its attack during Operation Icarus. In Chapter 36 Basilisk a single star system suddenly becomes Basilisk A and the stellar class jumps to G0 with a HL of 22 LM. But if you calculate the approach vectors for Medusa orbit you still get the HL as being 19,80, wich agrees with a G5 star. This is probably an editorial mistake, I think DW wrote Manticore A by mistake and the name got corrected during edition but not the StC. Furthermore HoS confirms the G5 number so that's what I'm using.
2) The gravity of Beowulf poses a problem. It isn't stated directly in any book but in FoD and B give some clues. Unfortunaetly they dont match. First in FoD we get to know that Beowulf's gravity is 10% lower than gravity on Sphinx, since Sphinx's G - 1,35 than Beowulf's G - 0,9 * 1,35 ≈ 1,21. But in B we get to know that Sphinx's gravity is 23% greater than gravity on Beowulf, since Sphinx's G - 1,35 than Beowulf's G - 1,35 / 1,23 ≈ 1,1. B also contradicts itself a few paragraphs later when we get to know that all three Manticore System planets boast "gravities heavier than Beowulf’s", which in light of the previous statement can't be true since Manticore's (G - 1,01) and Gryphon's (G - 1,05) are crealrly lower. Because of all that I'm sticking with the data from FoD.
3) The colonisation of Beowulf can be calculated from ToF Chapter 31. We get to know that there are still "at least 8 projects" running that were begun "within 5 years of the first settlement (...) almost 1800 years ago". Since Chapter 31 takes place in 1921 P.D. the settlement date is:
1921 - 1800 + 5 = 126.
4) The orbit of Blackbird isn't stated anywhere in HotQ but with the publication of JHRN it can be calculated. The calculation is based on Commander Thomas Theisman's statement from HotQ that his command the destroyer Principality would need 97 minutes at max accel to reach Uriel's HL. Later in the book as Captain Honor Harrington speaks with him it is revealed that Principality is the renamed PNS Breslau. From JHRN we get to know that Breslau belongs to the Bastogne class, and that its maximum acceleration is 519,6 g. Now for the math to calculate the distance from Blackbird's O to Uriel’s HL:
d{distance} = [(v0{starting velocity} + v1{final velocity}) / 2] * t{time of voyage};
v0 = 0 km / s, v1 = a{acceleration} * t
d = [(0 + a * t) / 2] * t
d = [(5196 m/s2 * (97 * 60) s) / 2] * (97 * 60) s
d = [5,196 m/s * 5,820 / 2] * 5,820 s
d = [5,196 m/s * 2,910] * 5,820 s
d = 15,120,360 m/s * 5,820 s
d = 88,000,495,200 m
Now to convert it to light minutes we divide it by the speed of light 299,792,458 m/s
d = 88,000,495,200 m / 299,792,458 m/s
d ≈ 293,54 s
d ≈ 293,54 s / 60
d ≈ 4,89 LM
So we have the distance from Blackbird's O to Uriel's HL which is 5 LM, so Blackbird's O ≈ 5 - 4,89 ≈ 0,11 LM.
Of course we have to allow for a dose of error here, first because Uriel's HL is stated in HotQ as "almost" 5 LM, and second because in my calculations assume that Principality would be starting her voyage from rest. Still without hard data given othervise in the books I'll leave my calculations.
5) Blackbird's diameter is given in HotQ as 8000 km. Earth's mean radius is 12742. So Blacbird's diameter in relation to Earth's is:
D = 8000 / 12742 ≈ 0,6278 ≈ 0,63.
- BACK -