Not too long ago the thought of having a capable home observatory in your own back garden seemed impossible, but now it is. You can see into the depths of the cosmos from the comfort of your own home. And you don’t need any particular knowledge of skywatching to do so. The Celestron Origin Home Observatory makes it easy to capture stunning deep-space imagery that you can quickly share with friends and family. We guarantee they will be impressed. We don’t doubt that $3799 is still a lot of money to spend. But if are lucky enough to be able to afford one, a $200 discount is a $200 discount.
The Celestron Origin Home Observatory is on sale for Cyber Monday at B&H Photo for $3799.
Brett Tingley
Space’s managing editor, who also covers news, reviews, and more for the site. His work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and he’s also a keen skywatcher.
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The Celestron Origin Home Observatory isn’t just a telescope — it’s a shortcut to deep space. Yes, it’s a big investment, but for nebulae chasers and astronomy enthusiasts who don’t quite know their way around the night sky or astrophotography yet (and those who do), this smart telescope will provide entertainment for years.
In the box, you get the telescope tube, tripod, accessory tray, and a built-in bubble level. There’s no carry bag, but the mount has handles, so it’s still easy enough to transport.
And performance? In our hands-on review, Brett Tingley praised the accuracy of the tracking, making sure stars appear pinpoint-sharp and highlighted that deep space objects appear colourful even without a filter. Ease-of-use was a consistent theme throughout Bret’s review, claiming “The Origin makes it almost impossibly easy to start taking pictures of the night sky”.
This is really a smart telescope for deep sky imaging; it doesn’t handle our neighboring planets or objects in our own solar system quite so well.
Key features: 152mm mirror diameter, 335mm focal length, 6.4 MP image resolution, 1.27 × 0.85 degrees field of view, Motorized alt-azimuth mount, 6-hour battery and a weight of 41.6 lb (18.6 kg).
Product launched: 2024
Price history: $3799 is the cheapest we’ve seen the Celestron Origin to date. It launched at $3999, but Celestron appears to have raised the regular RRP to $4299.
Price comparison: B&H Photo: $3799 | Walmart: $3999 | Celestron: $4299
Reviews consensus: In our Celestron Origin review, we awarded this smart telescope four and a half stars. It is more suited to deep space photography and purists won’t like it. But for capturing deep space photos, it will give you amazing results.
LiveScience: ★★★★½ | Space: ★★★★½
Featured in guides: Best Smart Telescopes
✅ Buy it if: You can afford to, and want to take high-quality pictures of nebulas, galaxies and other objects in deep space without having to do all of the hard work and research beforehand.
❌ Don’t buy it if: You prefer a traditional approach to skywatching or you want to take photos of our own solar system. For that, take a look at other telescopes in our best telescopes guide.
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