How Close is the Nearest Star?
 

The numbers are hard to visualize. Here is a great representation:

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Interesting....but he could have said it in a minute or less.

Lol, Steve. The very point he was trying to make requires the longer format.

On a related “space” note, today the EU released the first Euclid telescope images. Absolutely amazing. Probably behind a paywall unless you view it in private mode or clear your NYT’s cookies and get one free article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/science/euclid-telescope-photos.html

A personal experience from a public (large suburban) high school multi-school playoffs for the regional "Science Bowl", Grand Rapids MI 1991:
Q - "What is the nearest star visible to earth without a telescope?"
A - (my answer) "The sun"

Scored as incorrect. They were looking for "Alpha Centauri". Challenge denied BTW but we were already far enough on the losing end (darn you Forest Hills) that I suspected it would happen so I just let it.

And that part of MI is moving from manufacturing to the medical-industrial complex. Consider that the next time you read your billing statement...

I saw an interesting demonstration of scale related to money.
The presenter put a flag at the end of a straight road, and another flag an inch away.
"Let's say the distance between flags represents a million dollars. One billion is one thousand million, so we'll put another flag one thousand inches away. Elon Musk's wealth is estimated to be 185 billion, so we'll put another flag 185 thousand inches from the one million mark to represent his wealth. The national debt is 33 trillion, with a trillion being one thousand billion, so we'll put a mark one thousand billion inches away." He gets in his car to go plant a flag at the one trillion mark and another at at the 33 trillion mark.
"Keep in mind, most American's wealth would be represented in the first 1/4 inch of the line, and the average global individual wealth would be contained within the wire holding the first flag."

As I remember with no Google, it is Proxima Centauri, not Alpha. They are twin stars, but Proxima is closer to us.

Um, isn't the sun a star?

The scale of the known universe I think is basically beyond human comprehension but I have tried my best a few times. There is that great classic video I know many of you have seen with hubble looking into a small sliver of space with billions of galaxy's each containing billions of solar systems...mind boggling

The size of the solar system can even do that. Driving to Neptune would take 2,600 years. 600 years before Christ was born you gas up at Buc ee's and you would be getting there about now.

Q - "What is the nearest star visible to earth without a telescope?"
A - (my answer) "The sun"

Centauri is a system of 3 stars, Alfa Centauri A and Alfa Centauri B are visible w/o a telescope Alfa Centauri C aka Proxima Centauri is not

Sun is he correct answer w/ Proxima C the next closest @4.24ly it orbits A & B and is slightly closer than either, A & B orbit a common point 4.334ly away

How Close is the Nearest Star?
 

Yeah, no kidding. But I tip my hat to him for spending a lot of money in gas, tolls, ferry fairs and misc fees making the video.


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Many have tried to explain this "in a minute or less". What fun is that? This guy had some fun making this, it was fun to watch, and it provided a perspective that the "minute or less" crowd simply cannot. If you don't have time for this kind of light hearted presentation, just move along. No need to berate the guy.