Last year, I needed to move from my house, which had a dedicated observatory in the backyard, and I thought my days of astrophotography were over. I resigned myself to focusing solely on visual observing. Then, one day, while speaking with the owner of Atlanta Hobby about a new mount, he introduced me to the Origin. Initially, I listened out of politeness, thinking he could not possibly understand that I had just left behind a fully automated observatory and that whatever he was describing would surely be a mere toy in comparison. However, his passion for the Origin piqued my interest, so I quickly searched online to gather more information. Most of what I found was hearsay from people who hadn’t actually used it, as the product had only been on the market for a couple of months. But after discovering some early adopters, I began to see a lot of potential in it. I quickly scrapped my initial plans and decided to take a chance on the Origin.
Once I brought it home from Atlanta Hobby, I used it that very night. My wife, son, and I were amazed at how easy it was to obtain images that genuinely impressed us, rather than just blobs through the eyepiece. To backtrack for a moment, a few nights before I purchased the Origin, my family and I used our visual telescope setup to view the comet that was being discussed all over astronomy sites. I wanted to check it out again to compare it with the Origin. As the comet was about to set on the horizon, I slewed over to it. While the live image looked really good, the 10-second exposure surprised us all—we were astounded and hooked.
Since then, we have used the Origin multiple times, and it has never disappointed us. Now, I just need to purchase a padded case so we can take it to dark sites instead of using my light-polluted front yard. In conclusion, I am accustomed to managing a more complicated system with various components trying to work together, and I am relieved to have an all-in-one solution like the Origin. This is an impressive piece of equipment that is definitely not a toy. Once Celestron implements the wedge and autoguider, I may not seek a dedicated observatory again for a long time. Thank you, Celestron, for creating such a fantastic product, and thanks to Atlanta Hobby for recommending it!
