← Geography Short Tricks⚡ SHORT TRICK

General Geography — Universe and Solar System - Short Trick

Planets in order, moons, the Sun, eclipses and the universe — one sentence each

2 trick sentences9 pairs5 parts
0 / 3 learned · 0%
How to read
  • Guru Ram Each coloured word = one name in the list, shown below in the same colour
  • Panda Two colours in one word = two names
  • ➜ Order the numbered order matters · ⇄ Any order no order
1

Planets — Order, Size and Identity

The eight planets outward from the Sun, the five largest planets, and each planet’s records.

Trick 1

Eight planets — distance from the Sun

➜ nearest to farthest

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles.

  1. 1Mercury57.9 mn km
  2. 2Venus108.2
  3. 3Earth149.6
  4. 4Mars228
  5. 5Jupiter778.5
  6. 6Saturn1,432
  7. 7Uranus2,867
  8. 8Neptune4,515

The first four are the inner / terrestrial planets — solid, rocky, dense, no rings · the last four are the outer / Jovian planets — giant bodies of gas and ice, all with rings.

Trick 2

Five largest planets

➜ largest first

Jumbo sandwiches usually need eggs.

  1. 1Jupiterlargest
  2. 2Saturnsecond
  3. 3Uranusthird
  4. 4Neptunefourth
  5. 5Earthfifth

The smallest planet is Mercury · Venus is almost Earth’s size and mass.

Pairs

Each planet’s identity

9 sentences

Little Mercy sits closest to the fire.

Mercury=Smallest · nearest to the Sun · no moon · almost no atmosphere, so the greatest day–night temperature difference

Venu’s sister wore the brightest saree in the heat.

Venus=Earth’s sister / twin · brightest planet · hottest (~465 °C, hotter than Mercury) · morning star and evening star · no moon

Earrings of dense blue glass

Earth=Densest planet · the “Blue Planet” · the only planet known to have life · one moon — the Moon

Mark climbed the tallest red hill with two dogs.

Mars=The “Red Planet” (iron oxide in its soil) · tallest mountain in the Solar System, Olympus Mons (~22 km) · two moons — Phobos and Deimos

The Jumbo truck is the heaviest yet runs the fastest.

Jupiter=Largest and most massive (about 2.5 times all the other planets put together) · highest escape velocity, ≈ 59.5 km/s

Sania wore light bangles and brought many friends.

Saturn=Less dense than water — the lightest planet · the most beautiful, broadest rings · the most moons · largest moon Titan

Uncle lies on his side under a green sheet.

Uranus=The “lying-down planet” (axis tilted about 98°) · discovered by William Herschel in 1781 — the first planet found with a telescope · methane makes it pale green-blue

Nephew lives farthest away near the gallery.

Neptune=Farthest from the Sun (eighth) · discovered by Johann Galle in 1846 · methane makes it blue · thin rings

Venu and Uncle spin the top the wrong way.

Venus · Uranus=Rotate on their axes the other way (east → west) — every other planet spins west → east

The underlined words are the clues: gallery = Galle, top = spinning on the axis. One Venus rotation takes 243 days — longer than its year (225 days); its revolution round the Sun is in the same direction as the other planets.

2

Moons and the Moon

Jupiter’s Galilean moons, the two moons of Mars, the largest moons of the giant planets, and the first steps on the Moon.

🔒
3

The Sun and Eclipses

The Sun’s outer layers, perihelion and aphelion, the aurora, and when lunar and solar eclipses happen.

🔒
4

Universe, Stars and Small Bodies

Who gave the theories of the centre and origin, the types of galaxies, a star’s life and where the asteroids are.

🔒
5

Globe, Lines and Time

The Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, what crossing the Date Line does to the date, and the most time zones.

🔒

Read the full chapter for the complete notes — a trick helps you remember the list; understanding comes from the notes.