Reviewing my e-mail and thinking about what I`ve seen, something important
seems to have received little mention. When we first observed the F site
from La Silla at 10 micron, it was EXTREMELY clearly visible and well-separated
from the E site. It distinctly was NOT observed at 2 microns by the IRAC2B
camera (Jockers et al.) on La Silla at the same time. The Palomar team
a little later mistakenly (I think) identified it as mixed-up with E.
After about 20 hours, I start finding reports of distinct spots associated
with F. The original non-detections of F at wavelengths shorter than 10 micron
are, I think, real. Thus, it took substantial time for the atmosphere to cool
sufficiently for the F-region volatiles to condense.
Late-night thoughts from a cloud-shrouded ESO,
Tim Livengood