Question

Imagine you are on a space mission and you are 6 AU's from the Sun and you use a light sensor to measure the brightness of the Sun. The amount of sunlight received per square centimeter would be different by what factor compared to the same measurement on Earth at AU

Answer 1

Answer:

36 times less.

Explanation:

The distance from you to the sun is 6AU's, and from the sun to the earth is 1 AU.

Therefore,

At Earth sunlight received per unit cm² is:

$I_{earth} = \dfrac{I_o}{4 \pi \times (1)^2}$

$I_{earth} = \dfrac{I_o}{4 \pi}$

$I_{me} =\dfrac{I}{4 \pi (6)^2}$

$I_{me} = \dfrac{I_o}{36(4 \pi)}$

Thus, $I_{earth} = 36 \times I_{me}$

Thus, the right answer is 36 times less.