Linda Lishmanp age 8 of Johnsvilles. Penn:

How far are the stars?

Star distances are measured in light years. One light year is eqa al to about six millions of millions miles. Our suns nearest star neighbors are about 4.3 light years away. This is about 25 millions of millions of miles. These are two stars which can be seen south of the equator. They are called Alpha Centauri and Proxima.

Lets got an idea of these vast distances with a scaled‑down model. Lets imagine the sun to be the size of a plum.  Its two neighbors would also be plum‑sized. On the same scale they would be some 500 miles distant from the sun. This gives an idea how vast the distances between the stars really are. Most of the sky is empty space„

You can see bright Sirius on a winters night. It is about 8.6 light years or well. over 51 billion million miles away. The stars that make the pale Milky Way are too distant to be seen separately. Most of them are about 30.000 light years. or some 180:000 million million miles distant.