3259: Tethys

Tethys

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

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Explanation

This is one of 45 incomplete explanations: 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, the fifth moon of Saturn, has a diameter of 1,060 kilometers, almost exactly 1/12^th that of Earth's, which is 12,742 km. This scaling is a common one used for modelling, perhaps because of the relative simplicity of converting all real-life measurements directly from any given number of feet in the real life subject to exactly the same number of inches in the model version.

This comic presents a fantastical scenario in which artists who produce miniature 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 monstrously hard task, would be exacerbated by the need to precisely recreate Earth's features, as well as by some particularly unfavorable traits of the Saturnian system. Tethys's 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. These would be especially difficult to erect around Saturn, with its many moons and ring system causing severe gravitational interference. In addition, it would be difficult to get the necessary rockets, as it would be unlikely that any space agency would be willing to aid this thoroughly ridiculous project.^{[citation needed]}

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. Being very far away from Earth also means that there is no risk of nesting - having the model include a miniature version of itself, which includes an even more miniature version of itself, which includes....

Interestingly enough, the description refers to it as model-builders final project. This implies that once the Earth is recreated, it will be such a grand project that it will be the final miniature model ever made, which is unlikely.^{[citation needed]}

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

[An image of a planet, presumably Saturn, showing prominent rings as well as three distant moons (one to the apparent right of it, the other two at the left) 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.

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Discussion

Are the humans there also 12:1? King Pando (talk) 15:55, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

12:1 means 12x in dimensions. I think the joke is that the miniature art builders are so obsessed with miniatures that 1:12 scale is their"normal", so 12:1 from their perspective is a normal size from everyone else's perspective.135.180.173.62 16:44, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

My understanding of the gag is that the miniature builders are constructing a 1:12 model of the Moon to go with Tethys's "scale model of Earth."

You mean the american miniature art model builders. The rest of the world will keep waiting for a 1,274.2 km moon 38.25.26.137 19:56, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

A possible subjoke is a misunderstanding of scaling. Tethys' radius/diameter is 1/12 that of Earth's, but its surface area is closer to 3/500. In terms of surface area, Jupiter's moon Io is closest to the 1/12 scale. It is also possible that this commenter doesn't understand scaling, though. 1.170.227.28 02:41, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Scaling refers to lengths, i.e., 1:12 scale means the model has 1/12 length, 1/144 area and 1/1728 volume (assuming all dimensions are scaled equally, especially for Earth models sometimes height is exaggerated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoid#/media/File:Geoid_undulation_10k_scale.jpg). --134.102.219.31 09:35, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

I can't see why terraforming (as it's usually understood) or orbital mirrors, etc. would be required. Model builders don't usually build a sky and local microclimate to accompany their models. Certainly a significant amount of topological engineering (which is technically a form of terraforming, but not what is normally meant by the term) would be required to provide a workable substrate to build on, and further modifications may be needed to create an environment where the modelling equipment can work and the model would be protected during/after building, but I don't see any need to recreate the atmosphere, surface conditions, etc. of the Earth. 82.13.184.33 08:29, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

But if you don't, then pretty much all my 8.3 billion 1:12th-scale humans, that I just bioengineered from scratch to fit this model, are going to die very nasty deaths!

That is, in ways other than any of the very nasty deaths that they maybe were already going to be modelled to die of. I mean, it'll force me to not make the 1:12th human that represents you die in the way that you're going to die (but in 1:12th the time! ...yeah, it's still just a single dimension, though some of the physics involved gets trickier), but instead I'll have to find a way to make you die just like 'your' model-human does (don't worry, I'll still try to make it a surprise, but I can't promise that it won't drag on for longer when it finally happens to you). Or else it'll make a mockery of the whole thing. And I'm sure you don't want that! 81.179.199.253 14:33, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

TBH, creating a 1:!2 scale version of me seems a bit cruel in the first place. I've got bad news, though - Wikipedia tells me that Tethys has a mass about 1% of the moon, so even for 1:12 scale people gravity is going to be pretty borked, and I don't imagine they're going to last long anyway. 82.13.184.33 14:55, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Would it be fair to say that there's an extra layer of silliness when we have our own moon at 1/4 scale to earth already? 130.76.187.47 15:02, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Hmm, no reference to the "sum of all integers equals -1/12" math, with the seemingly infinite number of ships in the line? Obviously that "equality" uses "equals" in a somewhat unexpected way, given the divergent series. But that's part of the reference I expected, too. 2A00:79E1:2E00:4F01:A8F7:3C2:A4A4:C7C3 17:10, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

The number twelve is s many things, which may or may not use its reciprocal (or negative reciprocal), that I really don't think that the rather peculiar result of ζ(-1) is at all an intended reference here. Not without some more explicit hint that it might be. It's just too much already just a factor in modelmaking (and the coincidence of Tethys's scaling factor compared to Earth), I don't think we need to try to fix anything else (e.g. the nominal subdivision of day- or night-time periods, the number of constellations, etc, etc... eventually this list to include a specific answer from a given application of the Riemann zeta function, but not as anywhere near the most obvious association to make) into the Explanation. 81.179.199.253 19:36, 16 June 2026 (UTC)
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