How To Memorize The Planets
- Shasa Bolton
- Apr 20, 2020
- 7 min read
Listen to the Audio Podcast for this story here
or keep reading for the story text
By the end of this story you will be able to remember the planets in our solar system
- In order of their distance from the sun
- The order of the planets by size
- And a few fun facts about each planet.
The memory palace you are about to learn is much more powerful than a mnemonic like
"My Very Eager Mother Just Served Up Nachos".
Every time you learn something new about a planet you can simply add that piece of information to your memory palace making its utility ever expandable. You’re going to learn today's memory palace with a strange and simple short story. If you haven't heard of memory palaces, well you’re in for a treat. Memory palaces are one of the tricks that memory champions use to perform feats like remembering the order of a shuffled deck of cards, or reciting the first few thousand digits of pi. But you can use memory palaces to store useful information too. Information that may even help in an upcoming exam. Or information that may help you in every day life. A memory palace is a way of storing information within a mental map inside your head. This could be a map of your home, your school your car, your body and in today's example, a map of an aeroplane.
(The Story) A Memory Palace for the Planets
All over the Earth, in every Nation
People were practicing isolation
The planetary family, decided to run
They said, "let’s go somewhere safe, let’s go to the sun"
So they polished their aeroplane, and pumped up the tyre
Then pointed it straight at that big ball of fire
There were eight seats in this Aeroplane
And this was a family of eight, that's the same
There was only one problem, see here is the thing
Eight seats weren't enough for social distancing
"I've got it" They heard baby Mercury Shout
"I think there's a way we could space ourselves out"
Baby Mercury was faster and smaller than the rest
To cling to the propeller at the front would be best.
She was dressed like a mermaid, and could flap her tail about
That would keep the prop spinning if the fuel ran out
Mama Venus would be pilot, and hostess
She was the hottest in a low cut V dress
She was also the brightest, the only one with a brain
No one else would be able the plane
Her two favorite sons she wanted in site
Visible in each wing mirror to the left and the right
So Earthy went out and sat on the left wing
He was not allowed inside, for he was quite a grubby thing
Of all of the family who might cause some strife
Earth had a habit for harboring life
Earth was a little bit taller than Venus
She looked up to him fondly although he lacked cleanness
Her other son Mars, she could kiss on the head
He was shorter than her, and this made him red
Venus said to Mars "Now I'm not being mean,
But you’re really quite dusty and also not clean,
Like your big brother Earth, you can't come inside
You’re the next most likely place things might reside"
So on the on the right wing, is where they put Mars
He sat on the tip and ate chocolate bars
Next there was Papa, his name was Jew Peter
He's a very large man, and a very large eater
In his family of eight, he’s the biggest of all
If you lined them all up from big down to small
Jew Peter's so big, if you weighed him you'd find
He's two and a half of his family combined
They decided the only way to keep the plane flat
Was if right in the center was where Jew Peter sat.
Now the eldest son, was the next in the queue
He was not only big, but very bad too
Perhaps he wouldn't have taken to haten
If only they hadn't have named him Satin
So they tied him with ribbons to the very back seat
That's where bad boys sit, with nothing to eat
The rest of family thought it looked funny
Bright coloured bands all around Satins tummy
The next biggest son, never traveled that well
Without a close toilet, he'd soon start to smell
The loo at the back was where he would ride
And he soon felt so ill, he lay down on his side
Perhaps his loose bowels would have soon been forgotten
If his name didn't sound so much like a bottom
So after Uranus was shut in the restroom
There was one brother left, and that was Neptune
The only spot left, would be blowing a gale
The windiest spot, at the back on the tail
He stabbed in his trident end held on tight
Just as the plane lifted off into flight
They traveled all day, then they traveled all night
Moving one millionth the speed of light
They traveled this way for seventeen years
The in-flight movie soon bored them to tears
It was baby Mercury on the prop at the front
That one day awoke from a bump on the rump
It was warm, it was soft, like a fresh loaf of bread
She opened her eyes and turned she her head
There it was glowing in all of its glory
Just as they'd planned at the start of our story
Seventeen years since the journey had begun
The planets had finally arrived at the sun
The next closest planet was Venus in the cockpit
She woke from the light and said, "I guess this is it"
The light then reached earth still on the left wing
All of his morning birds started to sing
Next on the right wing, woke Mars as he felt
All of his chocolate bars starting to melt
The light next hit Jew Peter, in the middle seat
He said "Hey its breakfast time, let’s have something to eat"
The light kept on moving to the seat at the back
Where Satin moaned something about referencing black
The light beam burst through the back toilet door
Where Uranus was doing a number four
Of all of the planets to fell the sun
Neptune on the tail was the final one
Once again the planets could smile and laugh
They bathed in the sun like a cat on a path
They let that UV sizzle every flea
Every virus or germ that was too small to see
They felt warm and calm
And they felt all together
Their immunity functioning better than ever
For many more years they circled the sun
They stayed in the order in which they had come
Earthy got clever with evolution
For that they may have just found a solution
Although our clever species can often lack wisdom
We at least have a memory palace for the solar system
Interpreting the Story
Alright. That was our story. A bit weird. Sometimes rude, sometimes riskae. But that’s also what we need to make something memorable. You should now be able to recite the planets in their order from the sun, simply by mentally walking back through our aeroplane memory palace. I strongly urge you to go and look at the cartoon picture of this memory palace at this link which shows you the path of travel through the memory palace in order to retrieve the planets by size or distance from the sun.
You also now know a few fun facts about the planets. These facts were encoded into our story. Mercury is orbiting around on the propeller because she in the smallest and fastest planet. She orbits around the sun much quicker than the other planets. Venus is in the cockpit, because she is the pilot and air hostess. That is because she is the hottest and brightest of the planets in our solar system. Earth is out on the wing because the family are afraid he might be infected. That encodes something you already know, that Earth contains life. Mars is on the other wing because they also suspect he might be infected. That encodes that Mars is the next most hospitable planet that life could have any hope of surviving on. Jupeter is right in the middle of the plane because he is so big. That reminds us that Jupeter is the biggest planet. Saturn is tied up with ribbons to the back seat, that reminds us that Saturn is the planet with colourful rings. Uranus is of course in the toilet, but you’ll also remember and see from the cartoon, that Uranus felt so ill that he lay down on his side. That tells us that Uranus is the only planet that actually spins on its side. That’s right, Its axis is nearly perpendicular to all of the other planets. Now Neptune was on the tail in the windiest spot. That tells us that Neptune is also the windiest planet in the solar system. Now what’s powerful about this memory palace is that if you learn something new about a planet, you can simply go and add that information to your memory palace. For example, if I told you that Jupeter is made mostly out of hydrogen and helium, you might go and give Jupeter a fire Hydrant and tell him that he is responsible for putting out any aeroplane fires. The sound “Hy” in hydrant will remind you of hydrogen. You could then give him a helium balloon to use as a pillow. Now there’s one more thing that you currently now know. And that is the order of the planets by size. So you know that Mercury is the smallest because she’s the baby. And you know that Papa Jupiter is the largest because he eats a lot and has been made to sit in the center of the plane. But what is the order in between? Well Jupiters sons get progressively smaller as we move from him towards the back of the plane. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Then you’ll remember Earth was taller than Venus and Mars was shorter than Venus. So the order continues Earth, Venus, Mars, and finishes with baby Mercury.
If you look at the cartoon picture you will see drawn the line of travel you would take retrieve the planets in order of size. It starts at Jupiter, walks down the length of the plane to the tail, jumps to the left wing, walks along the left wing, through the cockpit and out onto the right wing, then jumps onto the propeller at the front. That’s a mouthful of prepositions but is quite easily visualized if you just go and look at the cartoon in the link.
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Thanks joining our story
I’m Shasa Bolton and I’ll see you very soon back here in Memory Land
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