Astronomy current events question: black hole jets

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!)

Francis Reddy, "NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion," April 7, 2011
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/star-disintegration.html

NASA's Swift, Hubble, and Chandra Space Telescopes are all observing __________, which may be evidence of material from a star falling into a black hole.
(A) a jet of x-ray and gamma rays.
(B) space-time distortions.
(C) rapidly flickering flashes.
(D) a growing accretion disk.
(E) hydrogen converting to dark matter.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 11 students
(B) : 4 students
(C) : 5 students
(D) : 2 students
(E) : 3 students