Phoebe [FEE-bee] is the last of the known satellites of Saturn, at a distance of 12.952 million kilometers (8 million miles). Phoebe orbits Saturn in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction of the other satellites' orbits) in a plane much closer to the ecliptic than to Saturn's equatorial plane. Voyager 2 found that Phoebe has a roughly circular shape, and reflects about 6 percent of the sunlight. It also is quite red. Phoebe rotates on its axis about once every nine hours. Thus, unlike the other Saturnian satellites (except Hyperion), it does not always show the same face to the planet.

Scientists believe that Phoebe may be a captured asteroid with a composition unmodified since the time it was formed in the outer Solar System. It resembles the common class of dark carbonaceous asteroids. These asteroids are chemically very primitive and are thought to be composed of original solids that condensed out of the solar nebula. Since they are so small, they never heated up sufficiently to change chemical composition. If this is the case, Phoebe is the first such object that has been photographed at close enough range to show shape and surface brightness. Phoebe also might be the source of dark material on Iapetus.

View of Phoebe

Phoebe
This image of Phoebe was acquired by the Voyager 2 spacecraft on September 4, 1981. (Credit: Calvin J. Hamilton)

Saturn Iapetus

Copyright © 1997 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.