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Next time you look up at the night sky, keep an eye out for the sun’s extended family.

The coloured circles on this chart represent 21 stars whose chemical compositions have been compared with that of our sun, and each other’s. This elemental DNA shows that three groups, marked in red, pink and yellow, deserve their own branches on the family tree. Taken together with their age and behaviour, these similarities can be used to infer the secrets of the stars’ origins.