Compositional maps of Saturn's moon Phoebe from imaging spectroscopy

Roger N. Clark (), Robert H. Brown, Ralf Jaumann, Dale P. Cruikshank, Robert M. Nelson, Bonnie J. Buratti, Thomas B. McCord, J. Lunine, K. H. Baines, G. Bellucci, J.-P. Bibring, F. Capaccioni, P. Cerroni, A. Coradini, V. Formisano, Y. Langevin, D. L. Matson, V. Mennella, P. D. Nicholson, B. Sicardy, C. Sotin, Todd M. Hoefen, John M. Curchin, Gary Hansen, Karl Hibbits and K.-D. Matz
Additional contact information
Roger N. Clark: Federal Center
Robert H. Brown: University of Arizona
Ralf Jaumann: Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration
Dale P. Cruikshank: Moffett Field
Robert M. Nelson: California Institute of Technology
Bonnie J. Buratti: California Institute of Technology
Thomas B. McCord: University of Hawaii at Manoa, HIGP/SOEST
J. Lunine: University of Arizona
K. H. Baines: California Institute of Technology
G. Bellucci: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
J.-P. Bibring: Université de Paris-Sud
F. Capaccioni: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
P. Cerroni: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
A. Coradini: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
V. Formisano: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
Y. Langevin: Université de Paris-Sud
D. L. Matson: California Institute of Technology
V. Mennella: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR
P. D. Nicholson: Cornell University
B. Sicardy: Observatoire de Paris
C. Sotin: Université de Nantes
Todd M. Hoefen: Federal Center
John M. Curchin: Federal Center
Gary Hansen: University of Seattle
Karl Hibbits: Corporate Center Pasadena
K.-D. Matz: Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration

Nature, 2005, vol. 435, issue 7038, 66-69

Abstract: Phoebe a Kuiper-belt refugee? Phoebe, the outermost large satellite of Saturn, is of particular interest because its unusual orbit suggests that it was gravitationally captured by Saturn, having formed outside the solar nebula where Saturn itself formed. The Cassini–Huygens spacecraft encountered Phoebe on 11 June 2004, and imaging spectroscopy from Cassini was used to detect iron, bound water, trapped CO2, phyllosilicates, organics, nitriles and cyanide compounds on Phoebe. The presence of all these compounds makes Phoebe one of the most compositionally diverse objects in our Solar System, consistent with a surface of cometary origin incorporating primitive materials from the outer Solar System. Further evidence on Phoebe's past comes from density measurements made by two other instrument systems on Cassini. Phoebe's composition is distinctly different from the ice-rich material that formed the intermediate-sized saturnian satellites, and is consistent with formation from the same material out of which Pluto and Triton (archetypical Kuiper-belt objects) formed.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03558

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