Of Cats and Kids
Pluto's demise: need new mnemonic
Posted by: Carol Lombardi
Thursday, August 24, 2006 12:00 AM
The planet Pluto is no longer. It's cute little Pluto for heaven's sake. They couldn't have given Pluto a reprieve?Thank goodness my daughter learned the names of the planets last year, when the mnemonic "my very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas" still worked. "Many very enormous monsters just sit under newspapers" isn't nearly as catchy.
The planet vote didn't obliterate Pluto completely, however, as it now joins Xena and Ceres in a separate category of "dwarf" planets. Ceres plays xylophones might work, although I don't know what order the new little planets are in.
Pluto should have paid more attention to its spam e-mail. Size DOES matter.
Comments
Problem solved: "my very eccentric mother just served us nectarines"
New problem: "maniacal vegetarianism eschewing martyrs joust scientifically uninformed nutritionists"
One very exciting point is that the continued discovery of new dwarf planets is likely to continue for many years. Some experts believe there may many more objects out there near and beyond the orbit of Pluto that may qualify for the new and growing list. Hopefully we will all never have to hang our heads in shame should some discoverer decide to name one of them Gimli. It is bad enough that Santa and Easterbunny are in the queue.
Posted by jeremyf on August 24, 2006 at 6:16 PM
