Celestron Origin vs PlanetEdit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Celestron Origin
This app redefines stargazing and astroimaging with AI-powered real-time stacking and processing. Explore the cosmos through a user-friendly planetarium interface, easily locate celestial objects, and share stunning images with others.
- AI-powered real-time image stacking
- User-friendly planetarium interface
- Compass mode for sky navigation
- Tonight's Best celestial object list
- Simultaneous streaming to multiple devices
- Audio presentations for celestial objects
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Celestron Origin redefines stargazing and astroimaging for a new generation. The images you capture with Origin look better than what you’d see in a much larger telescope under much darker skies. The Celestron Origin Powered by the SkySafari™ app, developed in partnership with Simulation Curriculum, features a user-friendly planetarium interface that makes it easy to navigate the sky and control the system. Simply hold your device up to the sky using Compass mode and tap on any object you want to see. (The best ones are highlighted.) Or try the Tonight’s Best list, which displays all the most impressive celestial objects you can see right now. Once you’ve selected a target, Origin locates it and begins capturing data. With each exposure, built-in AI algorithms autonomously stack and process every frame in real time. Galaxies and nebulae spring to life—sharp, detailed, and in brilliant color—all with no user intervention. Gone are the days of waiting in line to peer into a telescope’s eyepiece. Multiple people can connect to Origin via the app and stream the view with their own devices. With Origin, you can cast the live feed to your smart TV and save and share your completed astroimages. ORIGIN’S KEY FEATURES + Planetarium Functionality + In the app’s Planetarium View, navigate the sky by swiping or pinching the screen. For a more interactive experience, tap the compass icon to enter Compass mode, which uses your smartphone’s accelerometer and gyro to match the onscreen view to the sky overhead. + Selecting an Object + In the Planetarium View, objects highlighted with orange circles are the best targets. Tap an object to select it and display its name. Zoom in to find fainter objects. To point Origin to your chosen object, tap the crosshairs icon or use the “Center Object” option in the Object Info bar. Use the Tonight icon to see a list of the best currently visible objects. You can also search for objects by name or designation with the Search icon. + Picture-in-Picture (PIP) + A Picture-in-Picture (PIP) in the lower-left corner of the Planetarium View shows a live feed from Origin’s camera. Tapping the PIP screen shows the full Camera View, which displays the same view but fills the entire screen. + Camera View + The Camera View displays a live feed from Origin’s camera. Here, you can start imaging sessions or adjust camera settings. Origin automatically stacks and processes each exposure using its built-in AI algorithms. This processing doesn’t add new data to your image but rather brings out the best in your data and reduces noise. When you’re finished, tap “End Imaging” to save the final stacked master to the Image Gallery and your device’s camera roll. + Object Info View + You can view detailed information on every object in the Origin app’s database by pressing the Info button. You can also listen to audio presentations for over 200 of the most popular celestial objects. + Image Gallery + After you complete an image, Origin stores it in the app’s Image Gallery and your device’s camera roll. You can access the Image Gallery anytime by tapping the Gallery button. + Sharing Images + After tapping the Share button, you can customize your image by adjusting settings like exposure, name, date, object, logo, and crop. When you’re ready to share, press the Share icon to share via various apps or directly to social media. + Scheduled Imaging + Origin can capture images automatically during a scheduled imaging session without any input from you (even while you sleep!). Simply add the desired objects to a schedule and tap “Run Schedule Now.” Origin will start with the first object and continue through your list. To retrieve images, select the completed schedule and download the images to your Image Gallery and your device’s camera roll. Device requirements: iOS 16 and up iPhone 8 and up
PlanetEdit
This app helps you process videos of planets, automatically cropping them to center the celestial body. It offers various image editing tools and advanced features like wavelet layers for detail extraction and denoising. You can also trim videos before stacking and save your edited images.
- Auto crop video to center planet
- Basic image processing (stretch, saturation, brightness, contrast, hue)
- Interactive stacking slider
- Trim video before stacking
- 5 wavelet layers for detail and denoising
- Save edited images
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AstroEdit Planet is a very simple 4in1 app to stack planetary video. It will automatically crop the video and center the planet. It works on video that has planet moving across the view or planet centred in the view. When you open the app, it auto loads a sample Saturn video. Tap Stack button to begin! PlanetEdit integrates the four legacy desktop software into a single delicate mobile app. Traditionally, astronomer has to install 4 different programs to process planetary video. They are (in process sequence): 1. PPIP for cropping video 2. AutoStakkert! for stacking frames 3. Registax for wavelet sharpening 4. Photoshop for RGB alignment and coloring Features: - Open video or image. Accept all format recognised by the Photo app. In addition, it open .ser and .avi files. First, copy them to the Files app. Then tap Open button in PlanetEdit app. Choose Open Files App. Note that to copy avi file to your device, you may have to rename the file extension to .ser. Once copied to device, rename it back to .avi. Tested for avi 3.5Gb and ser 3.5Gb. - Auto crop video and center frame. - Auto set alignment points for stacking. - Lucky stacking slider. - Real time update of stacking result. - Use 2 finger to pinch zoom, 1 finger to drag and 1 finger to long press to compare a frame(best quality). - RGB alignment. - Basic image processing like saturation, bright, contrast and hue. - 5 wavelet layers to extract detail and denoise. - Save edited image to photo. PlnetEdit has been tested for video capture in seestar S30, S50 smart telescope, ZWO camera, refractive telescope 80mm and Dobson 200mm telescope. Email me at ustransit74@gmail.com if you need any assistance. Attached a short planet video file if necessary. Privacy policy and term of use (EULA) is at https://deepskycolor.blogspot.com/2018/12/privacy-policy-for-deep-sky-color-app.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Celestron Origin at 92% against PlanetEdit's 25%. PlanetEdit's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Celestron Origin ships an update every 2 months, PlanetEdit every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Celestron Origin | PlanetEdit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (28 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 92.3% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 28 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 980 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Celestron, LLC | yong chong loh |
Customer experience
Celestron Origin
PlanetEdit
In-app purchases
Celestron Origin
No in-app purchases
PlanetEdit
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Celestron Origin free?
Is PlanetEdit free?
Do Celestron Origin or PlanetEdit have ads?
Which is updated more often, Celestron Origin or PlanetEdit?
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