Planets

A mnemonic is a memory aid. In this class you are required to memorize the names of the planets and their order outward from the Sun. That is, you must memorize: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in that order.
The memory mnemonic we'll use here is a sentence where the first letter in each word is the same as the first letter in the names of the planets in their correct order (MVEMJSUNP). The most famous sentence of this type is

Men Very Early Made Jars Stand Upright Nicely, Period.

First, this is admittedly a really stupid sentence, that's what makes it memorable! This sentence is particularly good since it distinguishes between Mercury and Mars. Here are some other planet mnemonics which you may find even more memorable:

My Very Erotic Mate Joyfully Satisfies Unusual Needs Passionately.

My Very Empty Mouth Just Swallowed Up Ninety Peanuts.

My Very Enigmatic Mother Just Sat Upon Nigel's Plate.

Mary's Violet Eyes Makes John Sit Up Nights Pondering.

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

Many Very Early Men Ate Juicy Steaks Using No Plates.*

*(Contributed by wbarnett@home.com, "Ate" is for Asteroid Belt.)

Don't try to learn all of these, just pick one and stick with it.

Now that Pluto has been demoted from full "planethood", our mnemonic should no longer include the final "P". The first notable suggestion comes from Kyle Sullivan of Lumberton, Mississippi whose mnemonic was published in the Jan. 2007 issue of Astronomy magazine:

My Violent Evil Monster Just Scared Us Nuts.

Stars

Here are some mnemonics to aid you in memorizing the stellar classification system for stars, OBAFGKM which lists stars from hottest (most blue) to coolest (most red). The most famous mnemonic for this is due to astronomer Henry Norris Russell, it goes

Oh Be A Fine Girl (Guy), Kiss Me

Here are some modern variations which you might find more memorable:
(the first is from our Arny textbook)

Only Brilliant, Artistic Females Generate Killer Mnemonics

Only Boys Accepting Feminism Get Kissed Meaningfully

Oedipus, Basically a Friendly Guy, Knew Mother

Obese But Alluring Fertility Goddess, Kiss Me

Our Best Answer For Government, Karl Marx

One Boy And Fifty Girls Kissed Madly

As for the planets, just pick one. Don't try to learn more than one.

Update: Astronomers have recently added two new letters to the stellar classification system, L and T. Mostly these letters cover brown dwarf "stars" although part of the L classification also includes some very low mass red dwarf stars. A couple suggestions I've received for the new OBAFGKMLT mnemonic are:

Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss My Lips Tenderly*

*Contributed by phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu

Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me Like This*

*Contributed by Earl Johnson, Fall 2000 Astronomy student.

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