How can I locate myself in a random point of space?

Some Context

I'm creating a universe where humanity has reached the stars. They've colonized a few star systems and, obviously, FTL drives are a common thing. They basically jump you to another location - no pocket universe or speeding "faster than light". A simple "teleport".

For this to work, people need the coordinates of the destination in order not to jump inside of something like a planet or a sun. But blind jumps are an option in a moment of desperation.

Suppose my little ship makes a blind jump and, by sheer luck, it doesn't end up in the middle of an asteroid. Since it was a blind jump, I have absolutely no idea where I am - and thus I need to find a way to map my surroundings.

I don't know much about sky observation (so pardon me for my ignorance), but I think that even if I could fit a giant telescope lens in my ship, it would still be a hard and long process to look around 360 degrees, from a random perspective, and find some known cluster of stars to guide myself by.

The Actual Question

Suppose I make a blind jump and need to locate myself.

How would my ship's computer be able to pinpoint my approximate location?

Note that "computer" also includes any peripherals needed by the navigation system.

Constraints:

• There isn't such a thing as a "map of the universe" but you are allowed to used mapped regions of space (if they're not THAT big, like a known star system) as a reference;
• There's a certain "time sensitivity" to this question. It has to do with a narrative element, but let's just say that the calculations needed can't take longer than 1~2 hours (consider computers far superior than what we have today but not to the point of "magic");

posted about 6 years ago

Magus‭

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