How can I launch a ball given an angle in degrees and a magnitude?

I'm making a little bullet hell game for fun. Here is what is supposed to happen: I launch a big ball and it goes on for n seconds until it explodes into many smaller balls. These smaller balls are launched into different directions based on the angle intervals I want in the for loop. I was wondering how can I take a degree angle and a magnitude and turn it into a Vector2 so I can change the velocity of each.

So far I have this code:

 void Explode()
     {
         Vector2 spawnLoc = rigidbody2d.position;
         Debug.Log("Exploded");
         for (int i = 0; i < 360; i += 45) //spawn 8 balls and launch in 45deg intervals
         {
             Vector2 direction = degToVec2(i);
             GameObject smallBall = Instantiate(ball, spawnLoc, Quaternion.identity);
             smallBall.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().velocity = direction;
         }
         Destroy(gameObject);
     }

and the function:

 Vector2 degToVec2(int degree)
     {
         float x = Mathf.Cos(degree);
         float y = Mathf.Sin(degree);
         Vector2 vector = (new Vector2(x,y).normalized)*speed;
         Debug.Log(vector);
         return vector;
     }

I almost got it right but its not exactly what I want because the angle of 1 or 2 balls launched goes above 360 degrees. I'm pretty sure its because of the way i'm trying to find x and y.