[raymo]

The hole is for viewing very bright objects such as the moon. It can also
be used for solar viewing or imaging if some Mylar solar filter
material is fitted securely over the hole. The raised piece is for storing the cap when using the hole. {put the finder scope's, cap on, or remove the finderscope when observing the sun, very dangerous for the eyes}
The easiest and quickest way to focus at night is to get a Bahtinov mask
for your scope[about $40]. You can also focus on bright stars using your
camera's Live View function and magnifying the star by 5 or 10x. When
focus is obtained on a bright star, lock the focuser, making sure you didn't
upset the focus by doing that, and then move the scope to your target.
raymo