P-dog's blog: boring but important

20101117

Astronomy current events question: Kuiper belt object colors

Astronomy 210L, Fall Semester 2010
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!)

Astronomy.com editors, "Kuiper Belt of Many Colors," November 1, 2010
http://astronomy.com/News-Observing/News/2010/11/Kuiper%20Belt%20of%20many%20colors.aspx

Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have proposed that the many different colors of Kuiper belt objects may come from:
(A) different layers exposed by the sun.
(B) tidal heating.
(C) sulfur-rich volcanoes and geysers.
(D) radioactive decays.
(E) simple organisms similar to algae or lichen.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 32 students
(B) : 3 students
(C) : 1 student
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 5 students

Astronomy current events question: EPOXI spacecraft previous mission

Astronomy.com editors, "Deep Impact Flyby Spacecraft Images Comet 103P/Hartley," November 4, 2010
http://astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2010/11/Deep%20Impact%20Flyby%20spacecraft%20images%20Comet%20103P%20Hartley.aspx

Before flying past Comet 103P/Hartley 2, the NASA EPOXI spacecraft was originally called the Deep Impact spacecraft, which had successfully completed its mission of:
(A) returning samples from a dark nebula.
(B) shooting a projectile into the nucleus of another comet.
(C) flying through the asteroid belt.
(D) surveying the moon's surface for traces of water.
(E) tracking and deflecting a potential asteroid impactor.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 31 students
(C) : 4 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 5 students

Astronomy current events question: Saturn ring debris mountains

Annalee Newitz, "Two-Mile-High Mountains Discovered in Saturn's Rings," November 1, 2010
http://io9.com/5678790/two+mile+high-mountains-discovered-in-saturns-rings?skyline=true&s=i

The NASA Cassini spacecraft has recently imaged __________ in Saturn's rings, which may be caused by gravitational fluctuations between Saturn and its moons.
(A) snow cyclones.
(B) debris mountains.
(C) spiral arms.
(D) moonlet formation.
(E) liquid nitrogen geysers.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 0 students
(B) : 39 students
(C) : 2 students
(D) : 1 student
(E) : 1 student

20101107

Astronomy current events question: subsurface water on Mars

Guy Webster & Dwayne Brown, "NASA Trapped Mars Rover Finds Evidence of Subsurface Water," October 23, 2010
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20101028.html

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit detected __________, which may be evidence for subsurface water on Mars.
(A) evaporated puddles.
(B) small and steady Marsquakes.
(C) permafrost.
(D) fossilized quicksand.
(E) different composition soil layers.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 12 students
(B) : 0 students
(C) : 16 students
(D) : 2 students
(E) : 34 students

Astronomy current events question: spiral galaxies in infrared light

Astronomy.com editors, "Spiral Galaxies Stripped Bare," October 28, 2010
http://astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2010/10/Spiral%20galaxies%20stripped%20bare.aspx

The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) HAWK-I camera images spiral galaxies using infrared light, which is:
(A) not affected by spiral arm dust.
(B) not affected by dark matter.
(C) not affected by local light pollution.
(D) arriving at Earth just before the galaxies collided.
(E) slower and steadier than visible light.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 45 students
(B) : 6 students
(C) : 11 students
(D) : 1 student
(E) : 2 students

Astronomy current events question: Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer

Tom Beal, The Arizona Daily Star, "Graham Scope Has Both Eyes Open," October 23, 2010
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/wires?id=151393738&c=y

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer uses infrared light combined from two 8.4-meter mirrors in order to detect the presence of:
(A) distant star parallaxes.
(B) Earth-like planets.
(C) previously unseen spiral galaxies.
(D) near-Earth orbit asteroids.
(E) close binary star systems.

Correct answer: (B)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 5 students
(B) : 48 students
(C) : 9 students
(D) : 4 students
(E) : 4 students

20101105

Overheard: extent of Milky Way

Astronomy 210, Fall Semester 2010
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

(Overheard following an introductory astronomy lecture-tutorial on the total vs. visible extent of the Milky Way.)

Instructor (to class): "So why do you think we can't see most of our Milky Way?"

Student 1: "Because it's so huge."

Instructor: "Then how it is possible that we can see distant galaxies outside the Milky Way?"

(Beat.)

Student 2: "Uh...because they're huge, too?"

20101101

Astronomy current events question: Moon south pole frozen water

University of Arizona-Tucson press release, Astronomy.com editors, "It's Cold and Wet at the Moon's South Pole?," October 22, 2010
http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2010/10/It%20is%20cold%20and%20wet%20at%20the%20Moons%20south%20pole.aspx

By collecting neutrons from the moon's surface, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter observed evidence of:
(A) solar flare damage.
(B) helium-3 and other potential fusion fuels.
(C) moonquakes.
(D) radioactivity.
(E) frozen water.

Correct answer: (E)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 1 student
(B) : 5 students
(C) : 1 student
(D) : 1 student
(E) : 52 students

Astronomy current events question: planet OGLE-TR-113b orbit shrinking

Kelly Beatty, "Watching a Planet's Death Spiral?," October 12, 2010
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/104782104.html

__________ is evidence that the orbit of planet OGLE-TR-113b is shrinking.
(A) Timing of its transits.
(B) Infrared observations of its hot spot.
(C) Tidal locking.
(D) A massive, yet-unseen companion.
(E) Exchange of tidal energy.

Correct answer: (A)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 25 students
(B) : 6 students
(C) : 4 students
(D) : 2 student
(E) : 14 students

Astronomy current events question: upsilon Andromeda b hot spot

Whitney Clavin, "Astronomers Find Weird, Warm Spot on an Exoplanet," October 19, 2010
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20101019.html

The side of the planet upsilon Andromeda b that always faces its star is unusual because it is:
(A) experiencing a perpetual sunset.
(B) potentially habitable.
(C) not the hottest side of the planet.
(D) geologically dead.
(E) lacking water, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

Correct answer: (C)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186, 70200
(A) : 4 students
(B) : 2 students
(C) : 50 students
(D) : 1 student
(E) : 1 student