The invention provides a fast star map identification method of a star sensor, which avoids all-celestial sphere search, reduces the identification time and improves the identification rate. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining a complete star map, and obtaining the current rough gesture of the star sensor by use of a gyroscope combination system; searching all fixed stars in the viewing field from a star table by use of the rough gesture through the star sensor, and calculating possible positions of all fixed stars in the viewing field in an image plane; scanning a small area of the star map centered on the positions, and extracting the star image coordinates of a corresponding observation star; identifying the extracted observation star by use of all fixed stars in the viewing field; and sending the identification result to a gesture calculation module which calculates the current gesture of the star sensor. According to the invention, possible fixed stars in the viewing field of the star sensor are predicted by use of the sensor information, and only by scanning the possible position range in the star map, the star image coordinates of the observation star can be extracted from the star map, thereby avoiding the process of scanning the entire star map; and moreover, as all-celestial sphere search is avoided, the identification time is reduced, and the identification rate is improved.