1. A method for estimating an attitude of an object based on a digital starfield image that represents a view of a starfield as seen from the object, the method comprising: compressively sampling the starfield image with a first linear compression algorithm to create a first compressed sample, the compressive sampling of the starfield image with the first linear compression algorithm comprising summing a number of light pixels in at least a first portion of the starfield image; compressively sampling the starfield image with a second linear compression algorithm to create a second compressed sample, the second linear compression algorithm being different from the first linear compression algorithm; and estimating an attitude of the object based at least in part on the first compressed sample and the second compressed sample.