It really is that empty. Science fiction movies mess up our perception, but reality is way more mind-boggling that we realize.
Check this out: if you want to build a model galaxy to scale and you start with the Sun as a two-foot-diameter exercise ball, how far away do you have to travel before you can set down a smaller ball that represents Alpha Centauri, our nearest(-ish) stellar neighbor?
Check this out: if you want to build a model galaxy to scale and you start with the Sun as a two-foot-diameter exercise ball, how far away do you have to travel before you can set down a smaller ball that represents Alpha Centauri, our nearest(-ish) stellar neighbor?
10,993.3 miles.
Just bask in that for a while.
(http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/)