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We present observations at optical wavelengths with the Cassini Spacecraft'sImaging Science System of the Phoebe ring, a vast debris disk around Saturnthat seems to be collisionally generated by its irregular satellites. Theanalysis reveals a radial profile from 80-260 Saturn radii ($R_S$) that changesbehavior interior to $\approx 110 R_S$, which we attribute to either the moonIapetus sweeping up small particles, or to orbital instabilities that cause thering to flare up vertically. Our study yields an integrated I/F at 0.635 $\mu$malong Saturn's shadow in the Phoebe ring's midplane from 80-250 $R_S$ of$2.7^{+0.9}_{-0.3} \times 10^{-9}$. We develop an analytical model for thesize-dependent secular dynamics of retrograde Phoebe ring grains, and comparethis model to the observations. This analysis implies that 1) the "Phoebe" ringis partially sourced by debris from irregular satellites beyond Phoebe's orbitand 2) the scattered light signal is dominated by small grains ($\lesssim20\mu$m in size). If we assume that the Phoebe ring is generated throughsteady-state micrometeoroid bombardment, this implies a power-law sizedistribution with index $> 4$, which is unusually steep among solar systemrings. This suggests either a steep size distribution of ejecta when materialis initially released, or a subsequent process that preferentially breaks uplarge grains.

Radial profiles of the Phoebe ring, a vast debris disk around Saturn