Astronomy current events: brown dwarf as cool as coffee

Astronomy 210L, Spring Semester 2011
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!)

John Roach, "Brown Dwarf as Cool as Coffee Found," March 23, 2011
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/23/6324415-brown-dwarf-as-cool-as-coffee-found

The two coolest brown dwarfs yet discovered were separately resolved by:
(A) masking light from a nearby quasar.
(B) measuring Doppler shifts.
(C) collecting light over several months.
(D) using adaptive optics.
(E) optical interferometry.

Correct answer: (D)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 4 students
(C) : 7 students
(D) : 7 students
(E) : 7 students