NewsWatch: New Mnemonic for the 11 planets

A fourth grader from Montana has coined a mnemonic for the 11 planets of the solar system. If you thought there were 9 - or 8, or 12, or whatever it was last week - this memory trick may help you remember all of the planet’s names.

The student, Maryn Smith, won a National Geographic Society contest for her mnemonic, which will now be featured in a book and turned into a song by Lisa Loeb (of 1990s “Stay” fame).

The winning phrase? “My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants” for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris.

The only downside is that Smith’s mnemonic invention will in all likelihood be rendered useless sometime in the near future, as the planetary shuffle and disagreements about what makes a planet continue.

At least we can revel in the fact that 10-year-olds aren’t nearly as cynical as adults… yet.