It was first seen by scientists in pictures taken by the Cassini-Huygens probe on October 28, 2004, and announced on 8 November that year. It appears to be the best tracked object in this area with at least five possible sightings in the period till late 2005. In comparison, two objects in the F ring's area ( and ) that were first seen months earlier have not been found again with any confidence. Nevertheless, it continues to be unclear whether there is a solid core to or whether it is just a dust clump that will disappear in years or months. Notably, an imaging sequence covering an entire orbital period at 4 km resolution taken on 15 November, 2004 (soon after 's discovery) failed to find the object, while it has been seen again later. The lighting conditions in 's part of the orbit were different during these two sightings, however, with the discovery being made when the area was strongly backlit by the sun. A suggested resolution of the absence in November is that 's visibility is primarily due to a diffuse cloud of fine dust that is much brighter in forward scattered light (the conditions of the discovery image), and that the solid core (if any) is small.