20150502

Astronomy current events question: sun a "late boomer"

Astronomy 210L, spring semester 2015
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)
Donna Weaver, "Our Sun Came Late to the Milky Way’s Star-Birth Party" (April 9, 2015)
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/our-sun-came-late-to-the-milky-way-s-star-birth-party
The sun was born relatively late compared to the Milky Way's earlier peak star formation, based on NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescope observations of:
(A) distant galaxies.
(B) type II supernovae.
(C) dark matter.
(D) expansion redshifts.
(E) our galaxy's spiral arms.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 30 students
(B) : 2 students
(C) : 3 students
(D) : 7 students
(E) : 11 students

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