This question has a noticeable amount of views in such a short time. What method other than a good question can be used to get more views? How would people conceivably escape a planet too large for chemical rockets?
1 Answer
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It was in the Hot Network Questions
When a question is popular it will get to the Hot Network Questions, which are the currently popular questions of all sites that are shown in the sidebar on the right side.
A list of all current Hot Network Questions can be seen by clicking on those words at the top of the list. It leads you here.
As they are shown on the whole network they attract a lot of views, votes and answers. This often means that they are a bit (or a lot) opinion-based on this site. HNQs are not necessarily good examples of what a site is about.
After some time the questions are replaced by other popular questions. The longer a question exists, the less "arbitrary hotness points" it will have, though it will at first get more points as more people see it and interact with the question.
To see what determines the score you can look here. I will copy a nicer looking version from Chemistry.SE though:
\begin{align}\text{hotness} &= \frac{\lfloor n(\mathrm A), 10\rfloor \times s(\mathrm Q) \times 0.2 + s(\mathrm A)}{\lceil a(\mathrm Q) + 1, 6 \rceil^{1.4}}\\[1em] n&:\text{number of}\\ s&:\text{score}\\ a&:\text{age given in multiples of 1 hour}\\ \mathrm Q&:\text{question}\\ \mathrm A&:\text{answer}\end{align}
There is no recipe for getting into the HNQs. Sometimes you are lucky, most of the time you are not. And hitting the HNQ is not necessarily a sign that your question is a good fit for the site. It happens regularly that a question stays in the HNQs for a day or so before it gets closed.
Writing a good question is all you can do to get more views/ votes/ answers on your questions. As JoeBloggs mentioned in the comments: having a nice, catchy title goes a long way once the question reached the HNQs, as people on other sites will only have that to judge whether they want to read the question or not.
Furthermore Mołot pointed out that your question should be scannable by using clear language, short paragraphs, appropriate headings, ... See also The Art of Scannable Content: How to Write for Today's Online Readers
answered Feb 13, 2018 at 20:36
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$\begingroup$ Actually, more than a half of my questions was HNQ. I guess it's not just luck - most of the time I spent like an hour to think of a way to write question that is really pleasant to read. And with 3 Yearling badges I only asked 8 questions... $\endgroup$– MołotCommented Feb 14, 2018 at 0:07
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$\begingroup$ A catchy but understandable title is often useful, as that way if you do hit the HNQs people will click out of sheer curiosity. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 14, 2018 at 7:39
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$\begingroup$ @JoeBloggs Good point. And then language that's clear, easy to understand and contains all needed facts without looking like a wall of text. Optimal length paragraphs. Subtitles. Question should be "scannable". For example The Art of Scannable Content: How to Write for Today's Online Readers. $\endgroup$– MołotCommented Feb 14, 2018 at 14:36