As a solution of the slow space target acquisition caused by the complexity of starry sky background and the large field of view with relatively high sensitivity, a fast space target acquisition algorithm was proposed. This algorithm executes by taking advantage of star map recognition in large field of view. The speed of stars map recognition is largely improved by the short-time exposure on basis of the graded exposure strategy. Then, two-dimensional maximum background estimation method is used to realize star map preprocessing and obtain centroid data information. Finally, a natural object culling method based on star map target sequence is proposed. By horizontal culling of star map target sequence, the culling efficiency is effectively improved on the premise of ensuring the culling accuracy and realizing the rapid acquisition of space objects simultaneously. According to the simulation results, the proposed method is fast and accurate. Additionally, the period of target acquisition is reduced by 41.92% favorablely compared with competitors.