Our Sun exists in the Milky Way with hundreds of millions or perhaps trillions of other stars. It's not in the center of the galaxy, but lies out in the suburbs, well away from the core. The local neighborhood is called the Orion Arm and is about 26,000 light-years from the galaxy's center.
Stars aren't too close together out in the suburbs of our stellar city. Compared to the core, where stars are bunched together very closely (often much less than a light-year apart), stars in the Orion arm are light-years apart. The Sun's closest stellar neighbor s are still far enough away that it would take a spaceship hundred of years to get there (unless it could travel at light-speed).
How Close is Close?
The closest star to us is only 4.2 light-years away. That may seem close, but it's a long way for future space travelers who will eventually go there. However, in the grand scheme of the galaxy, it's right next door.
Any future star travel is going to require long journeys or warp drive before humans can successfully explore far-off lands and stars in even our closest neighborhood. What stars will they visit? Which are the closest? What are they like?
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Proxima Centauri: 4.2 Light-years Away
That closest star mentioned above? It's this one: Proxima Centauri. Astronomers think it might have a planet nearby, which would be quite interesting to study.
Proxima will not always be the closest star. That's because stars move through space as they orbit along with the other stars in the galaxy.
Proxima Centauri is the third star in the Alpha Centauri star system, and it's also known as Alpha Centauri C. The others are Alpha Centauri AB (a twin set). All are in a complex orbital dance that brings each member closer to the Sun at some point in their mutual orbits.
So, in the distant future, another of its companions will be closer to Earth. It won't be a huge difference in distance, so any future star travelers won't have to worry too much about not having enough fuel to get there.
However, other stars (such as Ross 248) will come even closer. Stellar motions through the galaxy bring changes in star positions all the time.
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Rigil Kentaurus: 4.3 Light-years Away
The second-closest star is a tie between the sister stars of Proxima Centauri. Alpha Centauri A and B make up the other two stars of the triple star system Alpha Centauri.
This star will eventually be the closest to us, but not for a long time! And, like its sibling star, if humans can get a probe out to visit it, we could earn more about this star system that's so close, yet so far away.
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Barnard's Star: 5.9 Light-years Away
This is a faint red dwarf star, discovered in 1916 by E. E. Barnard. Recent efforts to discover planets around Barnard's Star have failed but astronomers continue to monitor it for signs of exoplanets.
So far, none have been found. If they did exist, and if they were to be habitable, they'd probably be orbiting very close to their star in order to get enough heat to support life and liquid water on the planetary surfaces.
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Wolf 359: 7.7 Light-years Away
This star is known to many as the location of a famous battle between the Federation and the Borg on Star Trek, the Next Generation. Wolf 359 is a red dwarf. It is so small that if it were to replace our Sun, an observer on Earth would need a telescope to see it clearly.
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Lalande 21185: 8.25 Light-years Away
While it is the fifth closest star to our own Sun, dim little Lalande 21185 is about three times too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Observers need a lot of determination and a good telescope to pick out this red dwarf in the night sky.
Life forms living on a world nearby would see a faint-looking star, but it would appear fairly large in the sky. So far, no world has been found orbiting it.
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Luyten 726-8 A and B: 8.73 LIght-years Away
Discovered by Willem Jacob Luyten (1899-1994), both Luyten 726-8A 726-8B are red dwarfs and too faint to be seen with the naked eye
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Sirius A and B: 8.6 Light-years Away
Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky. It has a companion called Sirius B, which is a white dwarf. The heliacal rising of this star (that is, it's rise just before sunset) was used by the ancient Egyptians as a way to know when the Nile would start flooding each year.
Observers can spot Sirius in the sky starting in late November. It's very bright and lies not far from the constellation outline of Orion, the Hunter.
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Ross 154: 9.7 Light-years Away
Ross 154 appears to be a flare star, which means that it can increase its brightness by a factor of 10 or more before reverting to its normal state, a process which takes only a few minutes. No good images of it exist.
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Ross 248: 10.32 Light-years Away
Right now, this one is the ninth-closest star to our solar system. However, around the year 38,000 AD, this red dwarf will get so close to the Sun that it will take the place of Proxima Centauri as the closest star to us.
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Epsilon Eridani: 10.5 Light-years Away
Epsilon Eridani is among the closest stars known to have a planet, Epsilon Eridani b. It is the third closest star that is viewable without a telescope, in the constellation Eridanus. The discovery of an exoplanet here piqued the curiosity of astronomers, who are working to understand what kind of world it is. The star it orbits is a young, highly magnetic one, making this system doubly fascinating to astronomers.
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