Sure, but the nearest planets, stars, and galaxies to earth also gives an idea of the scale they are talking about. Sure you could say nearest the milky way, b

Sure, but the nearest planets, stars, and galaxies to earth also gives an idea of the scale they are talking about. Sure you could say nearest the milky way, but sadly I suspect that a decent fraction of folks wouldn't not respond with "Milky Way" when asking for what galaxy the earth is in.