How far is the nearest star?

The nearest star to Earth, other than the Sun, is Proxima Centauri. It is located about 4.24 light-years away from us. To put this in perspective, one light-year is the distance that light travels in one year, which is roughly 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). So, Proxima Centauri is approximately 25 trillion miles (40 trillion kilometers) away. Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri star system, which also includes Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Despite being the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri is a small, faint red dwarf star, and it is not visible to the naked eye. Its proximity makes it a key target in the search for exoplanets and the study of nearby stellar systems.

The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away on average. This distance is also called 1 astronomical unit (AU), the standard measure used in astronomy to describe distances within our solar system. If you’re asking about the closest star beyond the Sun, that would be Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri star system and is approximately 4.24 light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is about 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). So, Proxima Centauri is roughly 25 trillion miles (40 trillion kilometers) away. To put that in perspective, even traveling at the speed of the fastest spacecraft built to date, it would take tens of thousands of years to reach Proxima Centauri. This vast distance highlights the enormous scale of space beyond our solar system.

The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away. This distance is known as an astronomical unit (AU) and is the baseline measurement used to describe distances within our solar system. If you’re asking about the closest star beyond the Sun, that would be Proxima Centauri, part of the Alpha Centauri star system. Proxima Centauri is approximately 4.24 light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is roughly 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). Despite being the closest star after the Sun, Proxima Centauri is still incredibly far away by everyday standards, highlighting just how vast space is. Scientists study nearby stars like Proxima Centauri to understand more about our cosmic neighborhood and to search for potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system.