| The evolution of stars can be viewed as a passage through various stages as thermonuclear reactions and nucleosynthesis cause compositional changes over long time spans. |
| Before nucleosynthesis begins, protons and neutrons are continually interconverting by means of weak nuclear interactions. |
| The starting point in tracing planetary evolution is nucleosynthesis, the formation of the chemical elements on a cosmic scale. |
| Fusion reactions are the primary energy source of stars and the mechanism for the nucleosynthesis of the light elements. |
| Physicists call this process nucleosynthesis, and it had to occur before the structures we observed today, such as atoms and molecules, could exist. |
| Heavy element transmutation was observed bull-dozed by the bow shock that matched stellar and supernova nucleosynthesis. |
