# How far away until the Sun is no brighter than the full moon?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-until-the-sun-is-no-brighter-than-the-full-moon/744599>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-until-the-sun-is-no-brighter-than-the-full-moon/744599 "2016-01-29T18:34:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-until-the-sun-is-no-brighter-than-the-full-moon/744599/2 "2016-01-29T18:45:54Z")

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The following recent thread discussed the brightness of the Sun on Pluto.

> **[Brightness of daylight on Pluto, in real terms](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770876)**
>
> Pluto looks quite a nice place to visit; I’m thinking of spending a week there between Christmas and New Year. Obviously it’s a long way from the sun, so I know it’s not going to be so warm as the planet you have here, and more importantly to me,...

The first reply to this thread states that:

> [@Brightness of daylight on Pluto, in real terms](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brightness-of-daylight-on-pluto-in-real-terms/733430/2):
>
> About 250 times brighter than a full moon viewed from Earth.

If we take that figure, then you would have to be at sqrt(250)=15.8 times Pluto’s average orbit (=about 600 times Earth’s orbit) for the Sun to be as bright as the full moon on Earth!

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