Astronomy current events question: bright boomerang-shaped feature in nebula IRAS 05437+2502

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2018
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!)

Karl Hille, "Hubble’s Lucky Observation of an Enigmatic Cloud" (August 31, 2018)
nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2018/hubbles-lucky-observation-of-an-enigmatic-cloud

A bright boomerang-shaped feature observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in the nebula IRAS 05437+2502 may be caused by:
(A) neutron star pulses.
(B) a nearby type II supernova.
(C) a star ejected from its cluster.
(D) cosmic microwave background radiation.
(E) colliding white dwarfs.

Correct answer: (C)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 6 students
(B) : 8 students
(C) : 8 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 1 student