Dominic+Sorrentino

The first people to find an exoplanet orbiting a main sequence star were Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor. Geoffrey W. Marcy and Paul Butler verified Mayor and Queloz's find along with 2 other exoplanets. The planets were found in 1995 using the Doppler Effect on the light spectrum from the sun and also the transit method, which is the dimming of a star due to a mass orbiting in front of it. The first planet found, 51 Pegasi b, is 50.9 light years away from our planet and seems to be a gas giant with a temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The planet is tidally locked, or in other words, the same side of the planet always faces the star. A timeline of recent and past discoveries can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/PQTimeline/


 * 5?**

The rock I chose to research is pumice, an igneous rock formed by volcanic eruptions. It is formed when lava with a high content of water and gases shoots out of the volcano and the gases escaping make the lava become frothy. When the lava quickly cools, the result is a porous rock that is very light. //The picture to the right is quartz, a mineral found in pumice. The picture on the bottom left is called plagioclase feldspar, which pumice is also composed of// || //In the diagram to the left, it shows pumice being formed by being ejected out of a volcano during an eruption//
 * //The low density of pumice is demonstrated in the picture below, in which the rock is being supported by a rolled up $20 bill//


 * Magnitude || 6.3, The magnitude of an earthquake is the energy released by the quake. Magnitude is measured by using the Richter Scale. The larger the number, the greater the energy released from the quake. With the progression of each number, the energy is ten times stronger, (ex. 6 on the richter scale is 10x more powerful than 5, and 100 times stronger than 4) ||
 * Impact || 75 people have been confirmed dead, 300 other are listed as missing. estimated costs of the catastrophe range from $15 million - $20 million ||
 * Cause || New Zealand sits on the fault line between the pacific and australian plates. Therefore, whenever the plates move, it creates tension which is released through earthquakes. ||
 * Cause || New Zealand sits on the fault line between the pacific and australian plates. Therefore, whenever the plates move, it creates tension which is released through earthquakes. ||