Light Intensity at Point Sources: Impact on Energy Falloff?

[djmike]

i am a little confused as to whether light intensity at a point source is critical to how the energy will fall off(i know inverse sq ). if there is equivalent intensity from 2 sources will there be the same energy at any given distance?

sorry if that is a little convoluted... here is a more specific example...

if the sun was replaced by billions of candles so it was as bright as the normal sun here on earth, would it still look the same as the sun would furthor away, say on pluto??

 

[mathman]

Essentially yes. Only if you are close could there be a signigficant difference between the two cases.