Cassini's close look at the moon last year prompts planetary
scientsts to conclude Phoebe was born in the Kuiper Belt. May
16, 2005 The sharply-defined crater just above the center of
this Cassini image shows layers of alternating bright and dark
material. Cassini was 8,314 miles (13,377 kilometers) from
Phoebe when this image was taken. Photo by NASA / JPL / CICLOPS
|May 16, 2005| Saturn's outermost moon, Phoebe, remains a
mystery. Its eccentric, tilted orbit, opposite Saturn's spin,
suggests it didn't form alongside Saturn's other satellites. Two
new studies using the Cassini-Huygens probe have essentially
confirmed this theory. The independent studies tag the Kuiper
Belt, on the fringes of the solar system, as Phoebe's likely
birthplace, but the case is far from closed. Just before
inserting itself into orbit around Saturn, Cassini cruised to
within 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) of Phoebe, providing
astronomers with a unique chance to study the battered moonlet.
Near closest approach, Cassini captured thi