20161209

Astronomy current events question: discovery of brown dwarf OGLE-2015-BLG-1319

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!)
Elizabeth Landau, "NASA Space Telescopes Pinpoint Elusive Brown Dwarf" (November 10, 2016)
jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6673
NASA's Spitzer and SWIFT space telescopes discovered the brown dwarf OGLE-2015-BLG-1319 by observing how its gravity distorted light from:
(A) a nearby black hole.
(B) magnetic storms.
(C) its own fusion.
(D) our sun.
(E) a distant background star.

Correct answer: (E)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 2 students
(C) : 3 students
(D) : 2 students
(E) : 18 students

1 comment:

Patrick M. Len said...

Astronomy 210L, spring semester 2017
Student responses (done on the first day of lab, so these students were not assigned to read this article before responding to this current events quiz question)
Sections 30679, 30680
(A) : 10 students
(B) : 7 students
(C) : 3 students
(D) : 10 students
(E) : 15 students