Beacon
- “That ball of flame represents the power of the observatory. We call it the beacon. When you recover a Grand Star, a little Star Power will be restored, and the beacon will grow.”
- —Rosalina, Super Mario Galaxy
The beacon is a large star-like reactor that powers the Comet Observatory, including the space station's propulsion systems, its life support, and its Domes, introduced in Super Mario Galaxy. The beacon begins as a small, dim star, but as Mario collects more Grand Stars, the star becomes larger and brighter, allowing access to more Domes. The Lumas need the beacon to survive. Through the course of the game, it changes colors from burgundy (no Grand Stars) to orange (one Grand Star), then yellow (two Grand Stars), green (three Grand Stars), greenish-blue (four Grand Stars), blue (five Grand Stars), and finally turquoise (six Grand Stars). There is also an invisible wall that prevents the player from touching the beacon.
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Starship Mario has, in its engine room, what appears to be a miniature beacon that runs on Power Stars. This miniature beacon is the energy source for the starship. It is additionally colored only turquoise for the entire game.
Gallery
The beacon with no Grand Stars
The beacon with one Grand Star
The beacon with two Grand Stars
The beacon with three Grand Stars
The beacon with four Grand Stars
The beacon with five Grand Stars
The beacon with all Grand Stars
The small beacon, as it appears in Super Mario Galaxy 2
Additional names
Internal names
| Game | File | Name | Meaning
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario Galaxy | ObjectData/AstroCore.arc | AstroCore | Astro Core |
| Super Mario Galaxy | StageData/ObjNameTable.arc/ObjNameTable.tbl | 天文台コア (Tenmondai Koa) | Observatory Core |
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | トーチ[?] Tōchi |
Torch | |
| German | Kraftfeld[?] | Force field | |
| Italian | Braciere[?] | Brazier | |
| Korean | 토치가[?] Tochiga |
Torch | |
| Spanish | Faro[?] | Beacon |
Trivia
- The Grand Stars' effects on the beacon seem to resemble the way the flames of a real-life star changes color and size as it "ages" and burns. However, there are no real-life stars with a green hue—instead, as they get heavier, stars turn from yellow to white, then blue.
- The final color of the beacon is also similar to what was once mistakenly reported as the average color of the universe, before the corrected color of cosmic latte was determined. The Baby Luma is similar in color to cosmic latte.
