20160924

Astronomy current events question: the "directionless" universe?

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2016
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!)
Adrian Cho, "It's Official: You're Lost in a Directionless Universe" (September 7, 2016)
sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/it-s-official-you-re-lost-directionless-universe
Analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background data from the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft strongly indicates that the universe has:
(A) nearly equal amounts of matter and antimatter.
(B) increased its expansion rate over time.
(C) no special preferred direction.
(D) more dark matter than predicted.
(E) undergone previous big bang/crunch cycles.

Correct answer: (C)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 5 students
(C) : 19 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 3 students

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