I’ve been wracking my mind, trying to figure out a way to demote Neptune from being a planet. Size doesn’t work because if we demote Neptune, we demote all the rocky planets, including Earth.
Demoting Neptune for being gaseous doesn’t work because this would demote Jupiter which is the largest planet. I’ve heard it said the solar system consists of the Sun, Jupiter and debris.
And if we go by mass, Uranus is almost identical to Neptune. So both might be passed up. And of course we can’t have this. The whole point for dropping Neptune as a planet is so Uranus can be the rear end of the solar system.
We could ignore history and swap the names of the last two planets. That would mess with my mnemonic Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly (there used to be a Perfectly). But it makes more sense if it’s Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Nearly Up.
And wouldn’t it make even more sense that Uranus would have the Great Dark Spot?
Of course this makes sense only as an English pun. So the rest of the world’s people will get no pleasure out of Uranus being the butt of the jokes in the solar system.
Anyway, the end of the solar system, whether it be Neptune or Uranus is really, really gassy. Which brings me to the question, if we were to take the gas from Uranus, would it be really smelly or would it have no smell at all?
I, for one, am not going to let my tax dollars go to solving this mystery. I don’t wish the test on my worst enemy when the sample is returned to Earth. When Uranus’ gas is released it will likely be silent, and, you know, deadly can’t be far behind.
