The Opposition of Mars is coming... but is it really Mars? Or is it Hercolubus?

In a little less than a week on April 8th, Mars will reach opposition, meaning it will be opposite the sun in the sky. If the weather permits, tonight I'll webcast Mars... if that's really what it is. Some believe they could be lying about the identity of Mars to hide the coming of "Hercolubus" and prevent a worldwide panic. Well, if that's the case, tonight we'll see the true identity of "that bright red thing in Virgo." In any case, now is the best time to view Mars and we won't get another opposition for about 2 years.

I'll post the link to the webcast here when it goes live. I'm aiming to start around 10pm eastern if the weather allows. In either case I'll update this thread.

*Since some of you seem to be confused, let me clear this up; I'm not saying Mars is Hercolubus, I'm saying that some are claiming Hercolubus is being hidden by claiming it's just Mars, so to test that claim I'm going to view what is said to be Mars and provide live video showing what it really is. No, I don't believe in Hercolubus, if the media were lying about the identity of Mars, many many amateur astronomers around the world would know about it immediately, but I'm happy to test the claim anyway. My beliefs are not what matters, the evidence is what matters.

Here's the webcast:


Continuing the webcast here:


Here's a stacked image from the webcast. Mars is still just Mars, no Hercolubus:


Last Edited by Astromut on 04/06/2014 12:52 PM