Hi Francine,
The nearest star is Proxima Centauri in a group of three stars called Alpha Centauri. They are all about 4 light years away..that is, it takes light 4 years to travel from here to there. The other two stars are Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Alpha Centauri A is a star like out Sun (called a G class start) and so, if this has planets around it at the right distance, we might find an Earth-like planet with life there!
Many, many stars have been observed to have star spots; usually, they make their presence known because they cause a variation in time in the light coming from the star. Some spots are really big compared to our Sun's sunspots.
Hope this helps
Paulett