Patent ID: 7477367

Claim:
A method of identifying a celestial object using a device having a viewing axis comprising the steps: sighting along the viewing axis to sight a first reference object; selecting a first reference object and capturing first magnetic data and first altitude data; sighting along the viewing axis to sight a second reference object; selecting a second reference object and capturing second magnetic data and second altitude data; sighting along the viewing axis to sight a third reference object; selecting a third reference object and capturing third magnetic data and third altitude data; computing the angles between the first, second and third reference objects using the first, second and third magnetic data and the first, second and third altitude data; determining the orientation angle of the celestial sphere by comparing the computed angles to a database to unambiguously identify the first reference object, the second reference object and the third reference object; storing the orientation angle; sighting along the viewing axis to sight a celestial object of interest; selecting the celestial object of interest and capturing object magnetic data and object altitude data; using the orientation angle and the object magnetic data and the object altitude data to identify the celestial object of interest; presenting information about the celestial object of interest to a user.