The present invention is a system and method of acquiring airborne objects utilizing a reverse logic algorithm. The system includes an optics component for detecting the intensity of light from a light source as well as determining the location of the light source. In addition, the system includes a computing system to determine sources of light, which fall below a specified light intensity threshold. The portion of the sky where the light intensity falls below the threshold is determined to be airborne objects. The airborne objects can be tracked by velocity and direction as desired by the acquisition system.