Astronomy current events question: confirming Kepler space telescope discoveries

Astronomy 210L, spring semester 2012
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!)

Alan MacRobert, "Kepler Team Confirms Two Hot Earths," December 20, 2011
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Kepler-Team-Confirms-Two-Hot-Earths-Hundreds-More-Await-135865388.html

__________ is used to confirm planets discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope.
(A) Radar pulse reflections.
(B) Star wobbles detected by ground-based telescopes.
(C) Follow-up reports by amateur astronomers.
(D) Visual observations by the Hubble space telescope.
(E) Detection of the presence of an atmosphere.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 12 students
(B) : 11 students
(C) : 0 students
(D) : 5 students
(E) : 3 students