Celestron’s new Origin computerised telescope makes capturing stunning astro images a breeze

Ever seen those stunning astrophotography images and thought I’d like to get into that? Celestron has released Origin – its new computerised all-in-one observatory – which make capturing stunning astro images a snap.

I did have this thought myself a few years ago and took the steep learning curve to put together the equipment that could enable me to capture those same amazing celestial objects.

My set up included a telescope, a mount, a dedicated astrophotography camera and I had to learn how to do a polar alignment, find and track the target and then capture lots of long exposures and stack them together to produce those stunning images.

It’s a bit of work and takes a lot of practice and repetition to build up your skills and experience and improve over time.

The new Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory puts everything you need – the telescope, mount and camera – all in one unit and allow users to control everything with an app on your smartphone or tablet.

The Celestron Origin system has everything you need to start your astronomy journey including a 6-inch RASA optical tube with built in camera, a single fork arm mount with an internal lithium battery, a built-in computer with Wi-Fi, an auto-focuser and a dew prevention system.

It also comes with a full height tripod and an AC charger.

The biggest feature of the Celestron origin is the 6-inch Rowe-Ackerman Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) telescope.

In the RASA design, the imaging sensor is at the front of the telescope.

It is an f/2.2 system with a nice wide field of view so you can capture even more in a single frame.

With this design, the light comes in through the lens, is reflected off a mirror at the back of the telescope with the image focusing on the sensor on the front of the unit.

The sensor Celestron uses is the Sony IMX178 colour CMOS sensor which offers high sensitivity and low noise to help you capture crystal clear images quickly and easily.

The Celestron Origin also does all the heavy lifting when it comes to capturing the data and stacking and processing every frame in real time.

Usually this process takes hours from capturing all your images and then using a separate application to stack and process the image.

The Celestron Origin can do all of that for you which makes this attractive to enthusiasts no matter their skill level whether they’re a beginner or a seasoned astronomer.

Under the hood of the Celestron Origin is the StarSense technology which automates the polar alignment and initialization process.

It can automatically align itself by matching star patterns with its internal database and letting you know when it’s ready to look for your astronomical target.

The Celestron Origin app includes the SkySafari maps while offering a planetarium interface that simplifies your navigation of the night sky.

Users can hold the app on their phone up to the sky in Compass Mode and then tap on any object they see whether it’s a galaxy, nebula, star cluster and more and then move the telescope automatically to that point in the sky.

You can also enjoy a live view of the target you’re capturing and cast it to your TV and hear information about the object as well.

The Celestron Origin is designed to be a portable system that doesn’t require external wi-fi networks and that also has a built in battery to operate on its own when take to remote dark sky areas.

The telescope, mount and tripod can all be disassembled without tools so they can be taken anywhere.

The Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory is priced at $6999 and available to pre-order ahead of an April delivery.

It is available for pre-order through Bintel, Adelaide Optical Centre and Optics Central.