[[Nukleosintesis bintang]] terjadi pada bintang selama proses [[evolusi bintang]]. Nukleosintesis bintang bertanggung jawab atas penciptaan unsur-unsur dari [[karbon]] sampai [[besi]] melalui proses [[fusi nuklir]]. Bintang adalah tungku pembakaran nuklir di mana H dan He difusikan menjadi inti-inti atom yang lebih berat, suatu proses yang terjadi oleh rantai-rantai proton di dalam bintang yang lebih dingin daripada [[matahari]], dan oleh [[siklus CNO]] di dalam bintang yang lebih massif daripada matahari. <p>
Di antara beberapa kepentingan khusus adalah karbon, sebab pembentukannya dari He adalah leher botol di dalam proses keseluruhan. Karbon dihasilkan oleh [[proses tripel-alfa]] di semua bintang. Karbon juga merupakan unsur utama yang digunakan di dalam produksi neutron bebas pada bintang, membangkitkan [[proses s]] yang melibatkan penyerapan lambat neutron untuk menghasilkan unsur-unsur yang lebih berat daripada besi dan nikel (<sup>57</sup>Fe dan <sup>62</sup>Ni). Karbon dan unsur lain dibentuk oleh proses ini yang juga sangat mendasar bagi [[biologi|kehidupan]].<p>
Produk dari nukleosintesis bintang pada umumnya disebarkan ke alam semesta melalui episode kehilangan massa dan angin bintang pada bintang yang bermassa kecil, seperti di dalam fase evolusi [[nebula planet]], juga melalui peristiwa ledakan yang dihasilkan di dalam [[supernova]] untuk kasus bintang massif.
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The products of stellar nucleosynthesis are generally distributed into the universe through mass loss episodes and stellar winds in stars which are of low mass, as in the [[planetary nebula]]e phase of evolution, as well as through explosive events resulting in [[supernova]]e in the case of massive stars.<p>The first direct proof that nucleosynthesis occurs in stars was the detection of [[technetium]] in the atmosphere of a [[red giant]] in the early 1950s<ref>{{cite journal | author=S. Paul W. Merrill | title = Spectroscopic Observations of Stars of Class S| journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=116 | year=1952 | pages=21 | doi = 10.1086/145589 | url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1952ApJ...116...21M}}</ref>, prototypical for the class of [[Technetium star|Tc-rich stars]]. Because technetium is radioactive, with halflife much less than the age of the star, its abundance must reflect its creation within that star during its lifetime. Less dramatic, but equally convincing evidence is of large overabundances of specific stable elements in a stellar atmosphere. An historically important case was observation of barium abundances some 20-50 times greater than in unevolved stars, which is evidence of the operation of the [[S-process|s process]] within that star. Many modern proofs appear in the isotopic composition of [[Cosmic dust#Stardust|stardust]], solid grains that condensed from the gases of individual stars and which have been extracted from meteorites. Stardust is one component of [[cosmic dust]]. The measured isotopic compositions demonstrate many aspects of nucleosynthesis within the stars from which the stardust grains condensed. <ref>{{cite journal | author=D. D. Clayton and L. R. Nittler | title = Astrophysics with Presolar Stardust | journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics | volume=42 | year=2004 | pages=39–78 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.astro.42.053102.134022+}}</ref>
