“yes, virginia, pluto is a planet.”

That’s what Richard Binzel of MIT has to say.

So, before, it was like this.

And I believe the Earth must be the stupidest planet, as it is the most dense. ~bah-dum-ching!~

But now they’re recounting, and they’re coming up with more planets than I have fingers.

Twelve planets.
TWELVE planets.

That’s how many planets we may have. TWELVE. They’re debating, don’t you know?

And, did you know there used to be another planet, Ceres? It was demoted, but now they might include it again. And this UB313 may be called Xena, and there’s another called Charon. Interesting that two of the planets up for debate have girl names. And since right now all we have is Venus representing women... But whatev.

It made me think of the mnemonic I learned so long ago—perhaps from Roxi Vincent. I learned “Mother Very Excitedly Made Jelly Sandwiches Under No Protest.”

I couldn’t find that one online, but I did find some others, including a dirty one!

oMooing very eagerly, Mary jogged south under nine planets.
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
Mary Vincent Eats Many Jelly Sandwiches Under Ned's Porch.
Miss Nancy's Elephant Mastered Oilgebra, Not Integral Calculus.
My Very Erotic Mother Just Sucked Uncle Ned's Penis.
Mexican Vultures Enjoy Making Jam Sandwiches Using New Plums.
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets.

Are there any I’m missing? And how does being ably to show someone nine planets make someone “very educated?” I mean, hullo, they taught me that in grade school. Now, the elephant one, I like it!

And now it’s going to maybe be…

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, UB313 (Xena?)

And they have a new definition of a planet: any round object larger than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in diameter that orbits the sun and has a mass roughly one-12,000th that of Earth. Moons and asteroids will make the grade if they meet those basic tests.

So, um, by their definition the Earth isn’t a planet, as its mass is not roughly one-12,000^th of, um, its mass. Uh-huh. Brilliant, Spacenerds, friggin brilliant.

~shakes head and sighs...~

Anyhoo, I wonder what they will come up with for the new mnemonic.

Matt’s Vegan Egghead Mindset Causes Jill Stress, Ulcers Necessitating Painful, Costly X-rays? Many Very Excellent Minions Can Justify Singing Uppity Notes Playing Colorful Xylophones?

Riiight.

Aw, science. I heart it.