Abyssal plains were not recognized as distinct physiographic features of the sea floor until the late 1940s and, until very recently, none had been studied on a systematic basis. They are poorly preserved in the sedimentary record, because they tend to be consumed by the subduction process.
The first man to discover that the earth moves around the sun was an Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei.
On Sept. 1, 2007, the Earth will travel through the stream of dust particles in the wake of the 1911 return of comet Kiess, according to astronomer Peter Jenniskens, an expert on meteor showers, who works for the SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.