Astronomy current events question: Eta Carinae Great Eruption

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!)

Dave Mosher, "'Light Echoes' From Monster Star's Eruption Found—A First," February 16, 2012
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120216-great-eruption-eta-carinae-echoes-supernova-space-science/

Researchers at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Chile were able to study light from the 19th century Great Eruption of the star system Eta Carinae by:
(A) digitizing old photographic negatives.
(B) imaging light reflected by nearby dust clouds.
(C) releasing photons still inside antique telescopes.
(D) retrieving old data from Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft.
(E) extracting iridium from old rock samples.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 30678, 30679, 30680
(A) : 4 students
(B) : 36 students
(C) : 2 students
(D) : 9 students
(E) : 4 students