It's official: There are now twelve planets

An international panel has now decided to expand the number of planets from nine (as it is now) to twelve. The new planets aren't vagabond or migrant planets that just moved into the neighborhood. They've always (generally speaking) been there. The powers-that-be in the science world just decided to reclassify what constitutes a "planet" based on new discoveries and new thinking. Honestly, I think they probably needed to do something to look busy or justify their budgets. While I'm no enemy of science (I was a chemistry minor in undergrad and took more physics and biology courses than I care to recall), this is one example of why I don't appreciate "proselytizing" by condescending scientists who claim to have all the answers. They are frequently changing their minds or finding mistakes they've made in prior classifications and theories. But I digress -- that's a post for another day.

So we have three new planets. This affects one of my favorite mnemonics from school. While there are variations, it generally goes something like this:

My (Mercury)
Very (Venus)
Educated (Earth)
Mother (Mars)
Just (Jupiter)
Served (Saturn)
Us (Uranus)
Nine (Nepture)
Pizzas (Pluto)

This, of course, represents (or represented) the order of the planets as positioned from the sun.

I guess it will need to be updated now. Hmmm...how about this one:

My (Mercury)
Very (Venus)
Educated (Earth)
Mother (Mars)
Could (Ceres)
Just (Jupiter)
Serve (Saturn)
Us (Uranus)
Nine (Nepture)
Pizzas (Pluto)
Cooked (Charon)
eXcellently (Xena)

Okay. That's pretty weak. Still, I wonder if a consensus on a new mnemonic will be reached. Only time will tell, I suppose.

So, in the spirit of being neighborly, welcome to planethood, Ceres, Charon, and Xena. We've got you on our radar screen now and we'll be watching you from afar (WAY afar).

UPDATE: Apparently, Pluto is now out and the number of planets is down to eight. These "experts" can't seem to settle this issue. Maybe I'll check back in five years and see if they've made up their minds.