Starship Asterisk*

I'm curious about the towers surrounding the vehicle, that seem to be connected to each other by cable. What is their function(s) before and after the launch? This is the lightning protection system. 400 foot towers with fiberglass rods on top and wires between them ensure the rocket does not get s...

I'm curious about the towers surrounding the vehicle, that seem to be connected to each other by cable.
What is their function(s) before and after the launch?

How are the north and south poles determined on asteroids?

What are the background lights on Earth, city lights or lightning strikes?

If they're city lights, any idea of which cities they are?

What are the objects near the horizon about 2 cross-hairs from the left? One appears to be covered in a gold colored foil...

Keep in mind that redshift is not caused by the Doppler effect. It occurs because the space through which the light is traveling has expanded between the time the photon was emitted, and the time it is observed. That stretching of space increases the wavelength of the light. Looks like I've learned...

The expansion of the Universe as we recognize it is, in fact, an observable phenomenon, so I don't see why we wouldn't observe it locally if it were occurring. OK, makes sense, but in my naive thinking, I would think the small scale of our slice of the pie, would make the measurements impossible wi...

This is probably a stupid rookie question, but I have to wonder how galaxies manage to collide, when the universe is expanding? Were they propelled in different directions, allowing this interaction, prior to the time they were formed, as the hydrogen atoms were drawn together? It's a rookie questi...

This is probably a stupid rookie question, but I have to wonder how galaxies manage to collide, when the universe is expanding? Were they propelled in different directions, allowing this interaction, prior to the time they were formed, as the hydrogen atoms were drawn together?

Judging from the size of the Moon, the photograph was taken with a fairly powerful telephoto lens. For the plane to appear to be approximately the same size as the Moon, it would have to be quite a distance from the camera, therefore not flying slow enough for a take off or landing situation. Now, I...