Topic summary
Planetary mnemonic

A planetary mnemonic refers to a phrase created to remember the planets and belts of smaller bodies of the Solar System, with the order of words corresponding to increasing sidereal periods of the bodies. One simple visual mnemonic is to hold out both hands side-by-side with thumbs in the same direction (typically left-hand facing palm down, and right-hand palm up). The fingers of hand with palm down represent the terrestrial planets where the left pinkie represents Mercury and its thumb represents the asteroid belt, including Ceres. The other hand represents the giant planets, with its thumb representing trans-Neptunian objects, including Pluto.