ly The nearest known star (other than the Sun), Proxima Centauri , is about 4.22 light-years away. [6] [7] 10 3 26×10 3 ly The center of our galaxy , the Milky Way , is about 8 kiloparsecs away. [8] [9] 100×10 3 ly The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years