Joseph Resnick – December, 2014
In orbit it spins much closer than others, its surely the suns dearest friend.
Mercury it is oh so very small, Its rocky, its hot, it’s like a small ball
At half earth’s speeds all objects fall, but a vacation i’d not recommend.
Next you’ll find Venus a high-pressure place, its atmosphere is very thick.
Of all the planets it is the most hot, just smaller than earth but not by a lot
landing is hard but give it a shot, and the clouds are all acid, sulfuric.
Earth’s next in the line our beautiful home, its rocky but mostly it’s wet.
An Oxygen blanket; we breathe its air, its tilt brings the seasons some rough and some fare
Without all this stuff we would not be there; treat it well or you’ll surely regret
One planet out is our next cosmic stop, the red planet that is named mars.
Once it had water; now nothing to drink, its CO2 atmosphere would not even stink.
Our days nearly match, or so we think; and from here it looks brighter than stars.
Next on the list is the biggest of all, Jupiter with spot of red
The spot is a storm that’s been going for years, in orbit around it are 60 moon spheres.
Your weight on this giant would bring you to tears; as would just 5 hours for bed.
The great rings of what’s next are made up of dust, ice and rocks that shine from the sun.
Saturn’s surface is gas but it has a hard core, it is not very dense and would float off a shore
It would add to your weight gladly just a bit more; days too short to get very much done.
Traveling sideways, Uranus is cold, and made up of all kinds of ice
Visited once by the Voyager 2, with methane gas that makes it look blue,
In 84 years one orbit is through; and folks say it differently twice.
And last there is Neptune, where the wind blows hard, blue from methane gas too.
where there’s 16 hours in every day, and it’s way too cold to go out and play
Pluto is not always furthest away; its rings are called ‘arcs’ – who knew?