Editing 2439: Solar System Cartogram

{{comic
| number    = 2439
| date      = March 19, 2021
| title     = Solar System Cartogram
| image     = solar_system_cartogram.png
| titletext = For sentimental reasons, every active Mars rover is counted as one person, although that's not enough to make Mars more than a dot.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BELOVED MARS ROVER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, [[Randall]] has made a {{w|cartogram}} showing the planets in the {{w|solar system}}. Cartograms are a type of map in which geographic area is displayed proportionately to some secondary characteristic - in this case, population. From the title text it is clear that the population in question is human (persons) (but even if all life forms where counted it it wouldn't matter, since the only confirmed life in the Solar System is on Earth). Thus the other planets have a population of 0 and are shown as nothing more than dots. 

This comic is a joke about electoral cartograms. A standard {{w|United States Electoral College|American electoral map}} is very misleading. Though the split between Democrats and Republicans is about 50-50, most districts are red. That’s because many Democrats live in densely packed districts, while many Republicans live in rural ones. This has led to the rise of electoral cartograms, where districts are inflated in relation to population, correcting the misimpression that most of American is conservative.

Solar system diagrams are often misleading. Illustrators are overwhelmingly forced to use a far more scaled-down spacing between planets, compared to their scaled sizes; even if they can (or care to) maintain consistency in the relative distances and/or radii on linear scales. (The huge factors of difference involved instead may lend themselves to being {{w|Solar_System_model#Scale_models_in_various_locations|physically modeled}} to better give some sense of the spacing and sizing differences.) Here, Randall has intentionally applied the wrong solution to the problem.

The title text states that, even though Randall, for sentimental reason, count every active [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]] as one person, they are almost nothing compared to Earth's 7,800,000,000 persons. Thus Mars is still nothing more than a dot compared the Earth. There are a total of five rovers at the moment; in chronological order, they are Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Only the latter two were functional at the time of the comic's publication, giving Mars a rover population of two. (This is a tie for all-time high. Spirit and Opportunity were active together from 2004 to 2010, when Spirit shut down. Opportunity was still active when Curiosity arrived in 2012, and remained so until 2018. With the arrival of Perseverance in 2021, there are again two active rovers. A third rover, China's {{w|Tianwen-1}}, is currently in orbit around Mars and expected to land in May 2021.)

==Transcript==
:[Earth is shown, with an atypical rotation, for an American comic, showing Asia and Australia. Beneath it is a label. To the left is two small dots, and to the right five small dots. Each dots has a line going to it from it's label. The first, fourth and sixth label is above the others is below the line made by the dots and Earth. The dots represent the other seven planets, with equal space between each dot, and same distance from the dots next to Earth to the surface of the Earth. Above is two paragraphs with explanation:]
:Most solar system diagrams are misleading.
:This chart offers a more accurate view by showing the planets sized by population.
:Mercury
:Venus
:Earth
:Mars
:Jupiter
:Saturn
:Uranus
:Neptune

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]