Latest revision as of 09:33, 16 March 2026

Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3268 xkcd comics, and only 45 (1.4%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

Go to this explanation

Latest comic[edit]

Tethys

Title text: In order to carry the necessary crafting supplies, they built the ships at 12:1 scale.

Explanation[edit]

This is incomplete:
This page was created recently AND NEEDS TO BE RECREATED AT A 1:12 SCALE. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Tethys is the fifth moon of Saturn, and, with a diameter of 1,060 kilometers, is almost exactly 1/12th the physical size of Earth (which has a diameter of 12,742 km).

This comic presents a fantastical scenario in which miniature artists (artists whom produce scale models of existing structures) decide to use Tethys to produce a 1:12 scale model of the Earth. This is a patently absurd undertaking: all the difficulties of terraforming, already a monstrous task for a sub-K1 civilization, would be exacerbated by the need for precision (in order to recreate Earth's features accurately), as well as the particularly unfavorable traits of the Saturnian system.

Tethys' distance from the Sun is too great for Earth's surface conditions to be recreated without artificially increasing insolation, likely through the use of orbital solar mirrors (which would be especially difficult to erect around Saturn, with its many moons and ring system causing severe gravitational interference).

However, there is some good news: Tethys' large native water stores eliminate the need to ship in more, and the nearby moon Titan's atmosphere could be harvested for nitrogen, which is necessary to recreate Earth's atmospheric composition.

The title text humorously says that the ships used in the construction effort are built "at a 12:1 scale," i.e. 12x larger than normal (however "normal" is defined).

Transcript[edit]

[An image of a planet, presumably Saturn, showing prominent rings as well as three distant moons and one close, large moon. In front of the large moon is a line of spaceships dwindling into the distance toward the moon, or perhaps toward an orbit around it. Each spaceship has prominent rocket nozzles aimed toward the viewer and away from the large moon, as well as what appears to be a pile of material on "top" of the spaceship, with tie-down ropes holding it in place.]

[Caption below the panel:]
After learning that Tethys is exactly 1/12^th the size of Earth, the miniature art model builders launched a fleet of ships to begin their final, greatest project.

Add comment

Create topic (use sparingly)

Refresh

Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

	Soup

yum yum ^{[citation needed]}

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

This is the leaderboard:

Last 7 days (Top 50)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	28	23	30	TheusafBOT
2	19	10	32	GSLikesCats307
3	13	7	15	YZ100
4	11	4	18	clark
5	11	8	11	FaviFake
6	7	7	7	Ally
7	7	2	8	Barry Margolin
8	4	4	4	1234231587678
9	4	2	3	BunsenH
10	4	1	3	Natg19
11	4	1	3	Pie Guy
12	3	1	2	Salsmachev
13	3	3	3	SacrifycedStoat
14	3	1	2	Rps
15	3	1	2	Rnestler
16	2	2	2	Logalex8369
17	1	1	1	Morpheus
18	1	1	1	Kirinhatchi
19	1	1	1	Trimutius
20	1	1	1	Miamiclay
21	1	1	1	RadiantRainwing
22	1	1	1	Guy404
23	1	1	1	AmethystSky14
24	1	1	1	Jeff
25	1	1	1	King Pando
26	1	1	1	RegularSizedGuy
27	1	1	1	B Lagae
28	1	1	1	GreaterDog6065
29	1	1	1	7amithorn
30	1	1	1	Kvarts314
31	1	1	1	Baruch
32	1	1	1	CalibansCreations
33	1	1	1	DKMell
34	1	1	1	GammaRaul

<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello doesthiswork (yesitdoes) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

‮hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)‭

Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Add comment

View comic discussion

New here?[edit]

Last 30 days (Top 10)

Rank	Score	Pages	Changes	Username
1	90	76	128	YZ100
2	78	68	93	TheusafBOT
3	52	33	120	GSLikesCats307
4	28	23	30	FaviFake
5	24	13	42	Barry Margolin
6	18	15	18	Ally
7	18	8	31	BunsenH
8	15	10	17	DKMell
9	15	12	14	Ello
10	15	12	14	1234231587678

Lots of people contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have just joined. You can do it too! Create your account here.

You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.

If you're new to wiki editing, see the explain xkcd:Editor FAQ for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on how to edit wiki pages. There's also a handy wikicode cheatsheet.

Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the Community portal.

You can browse the comics from the list of all comics or by navigating the category tree at Category:Comics.

The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!

Rules[edit]

Be a jerk!

There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.

Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.

If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.

15 June 2026

		N 17:19	Talk:3259: Tethys‎‎ (4 changes \| history) . . (+695)‎ . . [King Pando‎; TheusafBOT‎; 69.161.18.194‎; 135.180.173.62‎]
			17:19 (cur \| prev) . . (+146)‎ . . 69.161.18.194 (talk)
			16:44 (cur \| prev) . . (+314)‎ . . 135.180.173.62 (talk)
		m	15:55 (cur \| prev) . . (+122)‎ . . King Pando (talk \| contribs)
		N	15:53 (cur \| prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk \| contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3259)

		17:03	Talk:2666: Universe Price Tiers‎‎ (3 changes \| history) . . (+205)‎ . . [2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:e439:d743:d102:ce8f‎ (3×)]
			17:03 (cur \| prev) . . (+39)‎ . . 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:e439:d743:d102:ce8f (talk)
			17:00 (cur \| prev) . . (+127)‎ . . 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:e439:d743:d102:ce8f (talk)
			16:58 (cur \| prev) . . (+39)‎ . . 2605:59c8:22e3:3e14:e439:d743:d102:ce8f (talk)

		12:47	Talk:3258: Plate Flip‎‎ (12 changes \| history) . . (+4,101)‎ . . [RG‎; 87.115.198.74‎; 85.159.196.162‎; 2a0a:ef40:2d3:201:1ce2:157d:bc39:d800‎; 2a02:8071:b84:fe60:b8cd:f85a:6078:b152‎; 2001:4c4e:1c09:1c00:27af:e5e8:189c:b02a‎; Rps‎ (2×); 82.13.184.33‎ (4×)]
			12:47 (cur \| prev) . . (+187)‎ . . 2001:4c4e:1c09:1c00:27af:e5e8:189c:b02a (talk)
			11:25 (cur \| prev) . . (+632)‎ . . Rps (talk \| contribs) (Another similar joke)
			10:19 (cur \| prev) . . (+1,495)‎ . . Rps (talk \| contribs) (Douglas Adams has a similar bit)
			09:09 (cur \| prev) . . (+45)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			08:56 (cur \| prev) . . (+157)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			08:54 (cur \| prev) . . (+160)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			08:51 (cur \| prev) . . (+100)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			08:36 (cur \| prev) . . (+648)‎ . . 2a02:8071:b84:fe60:b8cd:f85a:6078:b152 (talk)
			08:28 (cur \| prev) . . (+169)‎ . . 2a0a:ef40:2d3:201:1ce2:157d:bc39:d800 (talk) (Joke about third base.)
			08:11 (cur \| prev) . . (+190)‎ . . 85.159.196.162 (talk)
			08:09 (cur \| prev) . . (+171)‎ . . 87.115.198.74 (talk)
			04:48 (cur \| prev) . . (+147)‎ . . RG (talk \| contribs)