Astronomy current events question: Sagittarius A* x-ray flares

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!)

Trent J. Perrotto, Megan Watzke, and Janet Anderson, "NASA's Chandra Finds Milky Way's Black Hole Grazing on Asteroids," February 8, 2012
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/H-12-049.html

According to UK researchers, daily x-ray flares detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may be due to __________ the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way.
(A) asteroids vaporized and devoured by.
(B) supernovae triggered by.
(C) matter and antimatter ejected from.
(D) a wormhole connected to.
(E) superheated plasma surrounding.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 38 students
(B) : 3 students
(C) : 6 students
(D) : 0 students
(E) : 4 students