The closest star to the earth is our sun. Its average distance from the earth is approximately 93 million miles (or 1 AU; or 149.6 million km).
The "star" closest to our solar system is the three star system Alpha Centauri. Of the three stars in this system, Proxima Centauri is closest at a distance of about 271,000 A.U. or 39,900,000,000,000 km. When thinking of interstellar distances we usually use light years, or the distance travelled by light in a year. Proxima Centauri is about 4.22 light years away (with its companion stars, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, about 4.35 light years away).
The next closest is Barnard's star at approximately 5.96 light years away. Sirius, one of the brightest objects in the night sky, is approximately 8.58 light years away.
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