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Farewell, pizzas and pickles: New solar system mnemonic needed
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    • PARIS, Aug 24 (AFP) Aug 24, 2006
     For three generations, schoolchildren struggling to remember the planets of the solar system have used a mnemonic, with the first letter of each word in a sentence reminding them of the order from Mercury, the closest rock to the Sun, to Pluto, the farthest.

    But the age-old learning technique has been thrown for a loop by the decision Thursday of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the paramount authority on astronomy, to expel Pluto from the list.

    The eight planets now officially recognised by the IAU are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

    Among the favoured solar system mnemonics of the nine-planet past are:

    - My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

    - My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles

    - My Very Easy Method: Just Set Up Nine Planets

    - My Very Early Model Jeep Sits Unused, Needing Petrol

    - Most Very Energetic Martians Just Swim, Using No Pools




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