10 Closest Stars

Proxima Centauri as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our Sun. Credit: NASA

Everyone knows that stars are far away. They are far enough away the distances between them is measured in light years. A light year is the distance light travels in one year or 9.5 x 10¹² kilometers or 5.9 x 10¹² miles. The ten closest stars are all within 10 light years of our Sun. This chart shows the stars nearest to our Sun in ascending order. Keep in mind these stars are spread out in all directions. Some of these stars are actually binary star systems where two stars orbit each other. I have noted when this occurs and the pair only counts as one star in the list.