THE PLANET SONG

Our planetary system, whose center is the Sun, Is bound by gravity, a force whose pull has won, Along the orion arm, spiralling away, We spin inside our galaxy, called the Milky Way. A gigantic sphere of plasma, is what makes up our Sun, Providing all the energy for our solar system to run! It has the largest magnetic field, both an inner and outer one! Distributed by solar winds, charged gases from the Sun! The smallest planet Mercury, is closest to the Sun! As it has little axial tilt, rather than four seasons it has one! The orbital eccentricity is largest so it’s not round, It is an offset oval, with one side more gravity bound! The second planet is the hottest, as far as we can tell! A runaway greenhouse effect makes Venus hot as hell! Detection of Phosphine in the mid-atmosphere Might indicate that life exists over here. Earth is our home planet, the third rock from the Sun! It’s now the only planet where surface waters run! A cooling nickel iron core continues to radiate, Heat to drive convection which then moves Earth’s plates! A liquid mass of iron surrounds the inner core! It’s movement around the core is responsible for, The creation of Earth’s geomagnetic field, Blocks solar winds, acting as a giant shield! As the winds hit it, it lights up the sky, Forming the auroras as solar winds pass by! Earth has a natural satellite – it is called the moon! Its stabilizing influence has allowed for life to bloom! Next to the red planet, the fourth one from the Sun, Iron oxide in the soil is where the red comes from. Mars once had running water, maybe plate tectonics too, The surface dons Olympus Mons, the largest volcano to accrue. Having little atmosphere, liquid water can’t remain, Upon the Martian surface, so there is never rain! To reach the outer planets, we must first cross the snow line! The Sun is now so distant, its heat is now benign! Changes in the planet types are from the Great Divide, Inner planets are low in organics – for outers ample carbon was supplied! Between Mars and Jupiter lies the main asteroid belt, The Sun is very weak out here – its warmth cannot be felt! Now to the outer planets – they are the giant ones! Made up from the same gases that collected to form the Sun! Jupiter is the largest, in fifth place from the Sun, Its mass is more than twice the other planets rolled into one, A centuries old red massive storm is called the Great Red Spot, This anticyclonic storm a key of Jupiter’s mug-shot! Saturn, the sixth planet, the second largest one, The icy rings of Saturn, sparkle in the Sun, Because of Saturn’s density, soot forms diamond rain, All started from the process when lightning sets methane aflame. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, Its sideways rotation is the beginning of the fun, It turns out the atmosphere contains hydrogen sulphide, Which smells of rotten eggs, or what comes out your backside! Neptune is the farthest, we found it using math! This blue cold windy planet is eighth and now the last, It is the only planet the naked eye can’t see, For its brightest periods are twilight to you and me! Music written and performed by Thomas Galley