A fond farewell to the SBIG ST-8300M CCD Camera

After 10 years with my SBIG ST-8300M, I have finally upgraded. Despite its quirks, halos and spikes around bright stars, bad columns, and incredibly slow download times, this camera has performed admirably well. It has taken some of my best astrophotos to date, and managing its idiosyncrasies has taught me more about image processing than I ever thought I would know. In the time I have had it, this camera has taken on dripping humid winter nights, wonky power at remote sites, suspect USB cables, being dropped, and has just kept going. So, before I move on, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate this aging, but still very capable camera with a teardown and a close look at its innards.