Astronomy current events question: Tau Scorpii's magnetic field

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2019
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!)

News release, "How Do the Strongest Magnets in the Universe Form?" (October 9, 2019)
uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/how-do-strongest-magnets-universe-form

The strong magnetic field of the blue straggler star Tau Scorpii may have originated from the merger of two stars, as indicated by:
(A) computer simulations.
(B) gravity wave detectors.
(C) images from telescopes.
(D) underground neutrino detectors.
(E) past reversals of Earth's magnetic poles.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 27 students
(B) : 8 students
(C) : 4 students
(D) : 0 students
(E) : 1 student