NASA Uses Star Positions to Locate Distant Spacecraft

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is now so far away that it has altered its position in the galaxy based on a change in star positions due to parallax effect. To determine the probe’s location, astronomers compared photos of two stars taken by New Horizons with measurements from the Gaia space telescope. This marks the first time interstellar navigation was achieved using this method. Launched in 2006 to study Pluto, New Horizons has traveled beyond the Kuiper belt and is now speeding at tens of thousands of kilometers per hour.

Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2486823-new-horizons-images-enable-first-test-of-interstellar-navigation