Given that Pluto is 40 AU away from the sun...?

Question

Given that Pluto is 40 AU away from the sun, how many watts will be received per square meter? (Earth receives 1400 watts per square meter.)

Answer 1

I suppose the power is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Thus a square meter on Pluto gets 1/1600 as much power as one on Earth, or 1400/1600, 7/8 of a watt.

Answer 2

I think you can use the ratio of the surface of a sphere to give you your answer.

The sphere that is formed from with the Sun at the center and the Earth on the surface is 4(PI)(1AU)^2 = 12.56637 AU^2

The sphere that is formed from with the Sun at the center and Pluto on the surface is 4(PI)(40AU)^2 = 20106.19298 AU^2

Each square meter of Pluto must receive 12.56637 / 20106.19298 or 1/1600 as much energy as a square meter on Earth.

So, if Earth receives 1400 watts per square meter. Pluto would receive 0.875 watts per square meter.

Answer 3

40 x 93,000,000 = 37.2000000000000000000000000000000 photonic energy in lumens?.......how about gravitons...much easier to calculate!