Phoebe (moon)

Phoebe (moon)

Phoebe ( /ˈfiːbiː/; Greek: Φοίβη) is an irregular satellite of Saturn. It is thought to be a captured planetesimal from the Kuiper belt. It was discovered by William Henry Pickering on 17 March 1899 from photographic plates that had been taken starting on 16 August 1898 at the Boyden Observatory near Arequipa, Peru, by DeLisle Stewart. It was the first satellite to be discovered photographically.

Phoebe was the first target encountered upon the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft to the Saturn system in 2004, and is thus unusually well-studied for a natural satellite of its size. Cassini's trajectory to Saturn and time of arrival were specifically chosen to permit this flyby. After the encounter and its insertion into orbit, Cassini would not go much beyond the orbit of Iapetus.