Spacecraft Navigation by Pulsars

I've always loved Pulsars, they're just about my favorite astronomical body in the universe, second to only the Magnetar. One of the main things that makes them so cool is how accurately they emit their light sources, or more specifically -- their beams of electromagnetic radiation.  

And now, we are learning how to use these light sources to determine navigational awareness in outer space (very much the way that we use our GPS system here on Earth). 

Read more by following the link below:

Left at the Next Pulsar: Spacecraft Could Navigate by the Stars

An illustration of the NICER mission aboard the International Space Station. Researchers turned NICER's 56 X-ray telescopes toward four stars called millisecond pulsars to independently locate the position of the space station.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center & Space.com