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The US military is working on a device that can use stars to determine location even during the day.


> The US military is working on a device that can use stars to determine location even during the day.

They already developed a device that could do that in the 60s, but it was quite large:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Astro...

https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/nortronics...

Do you have a source for the one you say they're working on? Is more portable or hand-held?



Couldn’t that be just celestial navigation with a very specific notch filter for starlight wavelengths? So you can see stars in daylight?


Stars are broadband light sources, there isn't a specific starlight wavelength. Likewise, the Raleigh scattering in the atmosphere is largely a broadband source of light, since it is a reflection of our sun's light. You might get some slight benefit by looking at the redder end of the spectrum, but the improvement won't be massive.

However, stars are (to the nearest approximation) point sources. If you use a telescope and zoom in to the star, then you can spread the atmosphere brightness over a large area while concentrating the starlight into a very small area, which means you can see stars during the day. Couple that with a reasonable level of high dynamic range sensor and integration over time, and it would be quite possible to observe the positions of a load of stars during the day.


Basically, ultra high dynamic range.




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