To improve the automation of optical measurement equipment in space target measurement processes, an automated measurement method is proposed in this study. First, the composition and automatic operation process of the system are introduced. Second, the function to be optimized is designed by maximizing the number of observation targets. The observation time can be used for cataloging, and the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to propose an observation plan. Finally, to address the problem that the target cannot be detected outside the field of view when the guidance data error is large, two active search strategies are proposed. Simulation calculation results show that the optimized observation plan enables the detection of individual targets with overlapping arc segments and automatically and reasonably controls the observation time of each target. The helical scanning search is simulated for a certain type of optical measurement equipment, achieving a maximum offset velocity of 0.126(°)/s and a maximum acceleration of -0.053(°)/s2, and it is continuous and stable. The combination of expansion and contraction search strategies can improve the capture probability of the target and enable the switch to the original guidance mode smooth at the end of the search. Test results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the automatic operation level of equipment and enhance the equipment efficiency.