Let's Help Write a New Mnemonic for the Solar System. My Very Excellent Mother...

By Nancy Atkinson - January 21, 2015 03:36 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy

The current most-used Solar System mnemonic for remembering the planets and their order from the Sun is "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles." But, it's the "

Year of the Dwarf Planet

" and some folks are hoping all the dwarfs of our Solar System will get a little more respect and possibly be considered "real" planets.

A group of science writers from

The New York Times

are among those who are "rooting for the dwarf planets to be considered actual planets." But if that were to happen, one issue would be that we'd need a new memorization mnemonic (I know... this is a a horrible dilemma.)

It wouldn't be just adding P for Pluto (and reverting back to the old "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas) — you'd have to add a C in the middle for Ceres, along with E for Eris, H for Haumea and M for Makemake at the end.

So, Universe Today readers, let's help The New York Times find some new mnemonics.

Here would be the order:

M

ercury

V

enus

E

arth

M

ars

C

eres

J

upiter

S

aturn

U

ranus

N

eptune

P

luto

H

aumea

M

akemake

E

ris

And while we're at it, we'll take suggestions for a new (family friendly, please) mnemonic for the current 8 planets we have, something without Mothers and Noodles, perhaps. Planet hunter

Mike Brown

from Caltech (one of the folks responsible for all this planet arguing) has suggested "Mean Very Evil Men Just Shortened Up Nature."

Put your ideas in the comments below.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com