Looking for recommendations to Create a physically accurate sun

[Drosaca]

Hi, I' m trying to create the sun in space (as a light emitting object if it's feasible) with a light source as physically accurate as possible.

I was wondering if someone has any recommendations on which kind of light sources I shoud use (AreaLight or PhysicalSpotLight) and which values I should tweak to get the best result.

thanks,

[gkjohnson]

Your best bet for getting some kind of realistic sun and sky effect is probably to use an environment map for lighting.

[Drosaca]

My goal is to simulate sunlight hitting a distant object from various angles in space and render an image that closely resembles what a real camera would capture when pointing at the dark night sky.

Initially, I was considering creating the sun either as an object that emits light or as an invisible light source to simplify its positioning relative to the object . Do you think this path tracer can handle such a simulation?
Additionally, do you still believe that using a normal map would be the better approach here?
If this simulation doesn’t face any known limitations, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on the types of objects or parameters that would help achieve the most realistic results.