The sun is our nearest star. How big is the sun compared to our earth? A million spheres the size of our earth can fit into the sun. How far away is the sun from the earth? 93 million miles. If one inch represented 10 million miles, how far would I have to go before I reached the sun. I could take one step and I'd be there. If I wanted to get to the next nearest star, do you know how far I would have to travel? I have to walk forty miles. The second nearest star is 300,000 times as far away as the sun. By the way, our sun is one of the many stars in the galaxy called the Milky Way. A galaxy is a vast island of stars in space. Do you know how many stars there are in our galaxy alone? There are some 100 billion stars in this galaxy.