How can i make a proper light inside a circle with objects so their surface is illuminated?

Question

I'm trying to do a Solar System representation with Cycles, i already have the planets in order, the orbits, and i'm basing my file on a picture, and i'm trying to achieve the same illumination, but it seems pretty hard, so maybe or i'm using the wrong options, or even position of lighting. The thing is, i do not want to put the Sun on the image because later i'll add it in another software, but what i want to achieve is the same kind of lighting effect. Here's my reference (plus, my image will not have any kind of background image)

And this is what happens if i add a Point light inside the circles, i think the lighting is too weak for the objects and also if i add more Strenght to it, probably the planets would end up being totally white (or the color of the light)

Also, i tried putting an Emission object (a simple sphere, on this case) and again, the lighting seems too weak compared to the reference, and if i add more Strenght..this happens:

Please if someone have a method to add this kind of lighting, or maybe even a trick, please tell me, i'm really in trouble right now with this one..

Answer 1

• The light sources can be invisible to the camera. Set Cycles Ray Visibility to FALSE

• You mentioned trick. Consider the point light external to the sphere. Set Cycles Ray Visibility to FALSE. Each planet has a sister light planet not visible to the camera. They can both rotate relative to Sun. You may consider [Tracking] Constraint.

• The Sun. Set Cycles Ray Visibility to FALSE.