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Technically speaking, the sun is the closest star to Earth. <br /> . <br /> The next closest known star to the Earth is <b><i>Proxima Centauri</i></b>, red dwarf star<br />approximately 4.2 light years from Earth ... only about 278,000 times as far<br />from us as the Sun is. See the related link below for further information about<br />Proxima Centauri. <br /> .
Alpha Centauri is the closest star to our solar system, at about 4.2 Light Years.. It's not a solar system in the sense that ours is though - it's a triple star system composed of Alpha Centauri A (a little bigger than the Sun), Alpha Centauri B (a little smaller than the Sun) and Proxima Centauri (a red dwarf - very small star).