Abstract: A technical analysis of daytime star detection is given, which is applied to celestial navigation. Firstly, based on the analysis of atmospheric transmittance and correlated sky background scattering as well as the spectral distribution, the detection band from 900~1700nm is ascertained. Secondly, the relationships between the single field of view (FOV) with a stationary optical axis and detection sensitivity and daytime star capture probability are calculated. Finally, the programrelated details for the daytime star detection, the detector selection, integral time, the design of catalogue of stars and multiframe algorithm strategy are given. The experiment results accord with the analysis.

Key words: celestial navigation, daytime star detection, star capture probability, atmospheric refraction