James Webb's sunshield extended to its full 47-foot width

[progree]

6. If one scaled down the sun-earth distance to just one inch, how far is a light year?

Answer: 1 mile.

The distance between the earth and the sun is one astronomical unit (A.U.).

quite by coincidence, the number of astronomical units in one light-year and the number of inches in one mile are virtually the same.

The closest star to Earth, other. than the sun, is Alpha Centauri at some 4.4 light-years away. Scaling the Earth-sun distance at one inch places this star at 4.4 miles (7 km) distant.

Scaling the astronomical unit at one inch (2.5 cm), here are distances to various bright stars, star clusters and galaxies:

The Sun: 1 inch (0.000025 km)

A light year: 1 mile (1.6 km)

Alpha Centauri: 4.4 miles (6.4 km)

Sirius: 8.6 miles (14 km)

Vega: 25 miles (40 km)

Pleiades open star cluster: 444 miles (715 km)

Antares: 555 miles (893 km)

Hercules globular star cluster (aka M13): 22,200 miles (35,700 km)

Center of our Milky Way galaxy: 26,100 miles (42,000 km)

Great Andromeda galaxy (M31): 2,540,000 miles (4,100,000 km)
....

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/how-far-is-a-light-year/

I know this isn't related to the OP but was trying to remember it as I read it.