Peter Drew

The best way to hide a bald patch is to shave the rest off. 😀

Yes, cheapest/best. 🙂

You will need 3 elements to successfully and safely view hydrogen-alpha details including flares on the Sun. They are an energy rejection filter, a hydrogen-alpha etalon and a narrow band blocking filter. Collectively they will cost more than the telescope! 🙂

I would keep the one with the best optics, most other aspects can usually be DIY upgrades. 🙂

Binoscope? 🙂

Of course!. I should have said "one needs to know". 🙂

I have two of these and they are excellent all round, optically and mechanically. A little on the heavy side for the aperture. As mentioned, check the eyepiece fit size, if the 32mm then you can wrap the current 31.7" eyepieces with a bit of tape. The manual controls on mine are short rigid shafts with knurled knobs. 🙂

I don't think you will be disappointed. 🙂

I don't think there is a lot more to know. 🙂 Mounts can be balanced nicely but still somewhat out of balance with their support pier or tripod. To be considered isostatic the whole system needs to be in mechanical balance. A Dobsonian mount satisfies this condition.

I can add a + to that as I benefitted on a few occasions. 🙂

What sort of servicing does it require? 🙂

Probably a OOUK short focus Newtonian. 🙂

Ideally, a secondary should be pear shaped rather than elliptical s the cone radius below the centre line is wider as it approaches the lower portion of the secondary below its centre line. A quick sketch soon shows this and vindicates the offset of an elliptical secondary in a "Fast" Newtonian. 🙂

Something around 8x40 ticks most of the boxes all round. 🙂

To me, it looks like the secondary shadow is reasonably centred on the spider vanes which suggests that the primary mirror needs adjusting to make the whole image central. 🙂

Very true but you pay for the function. A 50cc moped would carry a telescope but the tracking would be terrible, conversely if you fitted wheels to the EQ6-R you'd never get anywhere at 1 rev per day. 🙂

Quite likely. You do get what you pay for. 🙂

Still beats me that wormwheels and worms are eccentric in this age of high tech machining. I don't recall significant issues with gear sets I used to make on very everyday equipment. I was very careful with each step of the process though. 🙂

Yes, unless the code has already been used five times, the limit of the facility. 🙂

By mags, I presume you mean magnifications rather than magnitudes, if the latter, this could be a game changer! 🙂

Good to go! I have similar equipment, one thing I would mention is that if the solar "finder" just had a front and a back, the projected image can be seen on the rear aperture covered by a piece of milk bottle material. This can then be viewed from any position so that looking in the exact direction of the Sun is not needed. I make mine from a strip of aluminium with the ends bent up at 90 degrees, small hole in the front and the milk bottle material covering the larger rear hole. 🙂

It's common advice not to use compressed air cans to blow dust off a mirror. As you have found, the propellant can also exit the can and leave a deposit on the surface. I doubt that it will cause a problem and in view of your declared inexperience it might be best to leave it rather than invite further problems. 🙂

Nice to have a 80mm APO as well. 🙂

I would go with a 8" Dobsonian any time. It will show you much more than any of your previous telescopes. Easy to use, easy to set up and adding a StarSense system would enable you to find things. 🙂

The equipment I enjoy most is self built, I'm now too old to make them again. ☹️