If every country's airspace extended up forever, which country would own the largest percentage of the galaxy at any given time? And who would own the black hole in the middle of the Milky Way?
Star ownership
Edited #1
Star ownership
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Re: Star ownership
#2Since the hypothetical "air space" would include any given star only as long at their spot on the rotating Earth pointed at that star, ownership would last only a few seconds and then shift to the next country to the west , and then break completely when the oceans were "pointing".
But you knew that, right?
Re: Star ownership
#3Yeah, what Mark said, except the paths of many of those celestial bodies might be better measured in hours of ownership rather than seconds. I don't really know of course, just a gut feeling.
Re: Star ownership
#4Since the question stated at "any given time", then earth rotation would seem to be irrelevant. I recently heard/read that Russia covers 7 time zones, so it gets my vote. I don't know squat about a black hole. Double checked, Russia covers twice the land mass of runner up Canada.
Re: Star ownership
#5
Mark was right to note that any such “ownership” would only be temporary, and Dale correctly emphasized that the question specifies “at any given time,” which suggests we’re really talking about averages. Dale also pointed out that land area is the key factor, which is true. So, pulling this together:
The solar system’s orbital plane (the ecliptic) is tilted about 60° relative to the Milky Way’s galactic plane. Because of this, countries in the Southern Hemisphere have an advantage when projecting their “airspace” toward Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. That makes land mass in the Southern Hemisphere the main determinant.
The “official” answer I saw cited Australia as having the largest relevant land area, but in fact Brazil is larger. The difference may not be statistically significant given all the assumptions, but if we’re basing the answer purely on land mass, Brazil would come out ahead.
If land mass alone were the criterion, however, the real winner would be Antarctica, which is far bigger than Brazil. But since the question asks about “countries,” and Antarctica is not a sovereign nation, it doesn’t qualify.
Re: Star ownership
#6
Don’t forget to add (or subtract?) the tilt of the earth relative to the solar plane.
Jason
Re: Star ownership
Edited #7
@Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN,
Absolutely, as that is the reason countries in the southern hemisphere have the advantage. I babbled on about the Earth's orbit relative to the galaxy and forgot to mention the most important thing. Yikes!
Thanks! 
Re: Star ownership
#8Come to think of it, countries that are nearer the poles have an advantage as well, because they see more of the same sky overhead for a given night than countries nearer the equator. As an extreme example, the north star is more or less directly overhead the north pole all the time. Although I don't know the the specific mathematics well, the sky effectively moves more slowly overhead closer to the poles, and you have a much less varied view as well.
This could account for Australia officially beating out Brazil in spite of it's smaller area - it's roughly 10 degrees closer to the south pole.