Dr. Free-Ride: (to younger offspring) Could you teach me all the words to your song about the planets.
Younger offspring: It's secret.
Dr. Free-Ride: Please?
Younger offspring: Oh, alright!
Nine planets, fine planets, In our solar system. Nine planets, fine planets, See if we can list 'em.
Mercury is planet number one, It's right there close to the Sun.
Then there's Venus, the planet of love, Brightest planet in the heavens above.
Earth is planet number three, It makes a home for you and me.
Mars, the red planet, is number four. Old man Mars is the god of war.
Then there's Jupiter, number five. Biggest planet in the skies.
Saturn really makes me sing, It's the one with the beautiful ring.
Uranus and Neptune, nothing between, Far from the Sun it's hard to be seen.
Pluto is the next place to go. It's the last planet we now* know.
Nine planets, fine planets, In our solar system. Nine planets, fine planets, See if we can list 'em.
Dr. Free-Ride: Thank you!
Elder offspring: I wish I could visit Pluto.
Dr. Free-Ride: I bet it would be pretty cold there.
Younger offspring: Yeah, it's really far from the Sun.
Elder offspring: Venus is the hottest planet.
Dr. Free-Ride: Really?
Younger offspring: No, Mercury should be the hottest -- it's closest to the Sun.
Elder offspring: No, Venus is really the hottest. Wait a minute -- I'll get the book.
Younger offspring: I think Mercury is really the hottest.
Dr. Free-Ride: That makes sense to me, but let's see what she's got.
Elder offspring: Here, I found it. The book [Carole Stott, I Wonder Why Stars Twinkle, and Other Questions About Space] says:
Venus isn't the closest planet to the sun, but it is the hottest. The temperature can reach 900 F (500 C) -- that's about eight times hotter than it gets in the Sahara Desert, the hottest place on Earth.
Although Mercury is closer to the Sun, Venus is hotter! This is because Venus is covered by clouds of gas which act like a blanket, keeping in the Sun's heat.
Younger offspring: OK, Venus really is the hottest.
Dr. Free-Ride: You two handled that disagreement really well.
Younger offspring: I thought Mercury was hottest, but I was wrong.
Older offspring: That's OK. I wouldn't have known it was Venus if I hadn't read it in the book.
*There is some chance that this line is officially, "It's the last planet we know." The "now" may have been added by the younger offspring as a concession to the older offspring's claim that Xena is a newly-discovered planet.
*YoS Editors-- there have been new scientific developments related to the content in this posting. For more information please visit the Public Broadcasting Service website.