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More answers
Good to see the previous owner warned about the sun. The small removeable caps are used to "stop down" the aperture, in effect turning an 8" scope into more of a 2" (or whatever the size of the hole is. This can be useful for viewing bright objects like the Moon or even Jupiter when it is really bright, as the glare can sometimes obscure details.
DO NOT attempt to use this to observe the sun, MUST HAVE A PROPER SOLAR FILTER fitted (I know this has been said but you will wreck your eyes if you try and blindness is for ever!
Not sure why it would be used on NGC 4755 (the Jewell Box Cluster) as it is a nice object but not that bright! That is a very worthwhile cluster that is well worth checking out, if you have a look at the chart I have attached it sits next to Beta Crucis and is the yellow circle labelled 4755. Just wait till Crux is reasonably high and you will be rewarded!
Talking about finder scopes have you aligned yours?
A red light should be more than enough to read charts.
You should not need a laptop, unless you setup your scope with setting circles and then use the laptop to convert RA and Dec to Alt Az settings, but there are smartphone programs that do as good a job I believe.
Malcolm
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