🚀 go-pugleaf

 I posted this in the Space and Science section of Genie, and was met with 
disbelief. The more I think about this, the more it seems to make sense. I 
would appreciate any comments.
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  I was once told that the apparent brightness of the Sun would be the same
from Venus, Earth, Mars, or at any distance. It would only appear smaller.

 Is this true? How does one reconcile this with the 1/r^2 decrease in the
intensity of radiation received by a given area, whether it be the eye or a
planet? (Venus gets a lot more radiation than the Earth.)

 One could say that the reason the flux goes down as
 1/r^2 is that the apparent area of the sun goes down as 1/r^2, but
 the apparent brightness of the sun is the same.
 
 Does this breakdown when we get so far way that we can't resolve the source?
 Point sources, like stars, do obey the 1/r^2 law for apparent brightness,
don't they?

  How about this? Suppose that the Sun had twice the radius, but the same
brightness. Any surface would receive 4 times as much radiation (wouldn't it?).
 But it would not appear any brighter to our eyes (again, unless it were so far
away that we couldn't resolve the surface). Isn't this the inverse of what I 
posted above?

 Does this make sense to anyone?
 Has anyone else heard this about the sun?
  Does anyone see this as an apparent paradox?
  Any comments at all?
 Van
  van@cup.portal.com