Carbon burning

Carbon burning is a stage of stellar evolution in which carbon nuclei fuse at high temperatures, producing heavier nuclei such as neon, sodium, and magnesium.

Carbon-12: The stable isotope of carbon with six protons and six neutrons. Its nuclei collide and fuse during this stage of stellar evolution.
Stellar nucleosynthesis: The formation of chemical elements through nuclear reactions in stars and stellar explosions. Carbon burning is one stage in the sequence that builds elements inside stars.
Massive star: A star massive enough to proceed through advanced stages of nuclear fusion before core collapse. Massive stars commonly ignite carbon in their cores after exhausting central helium.
Carbon detonation: A supersonic combustion wave driven by rapid carbon fusion in dense stellar material. Unlike gradual stellar carbon burning, a detonation consumes fuel through a propagating shock.
Carbon-12 fusion: Fusion reactions in which two carbon-12 nuclei combine or rearrange into other nuclei. These reactions define carbon burning and produce its characteristic range of elements.
Stellar evolution: The changes in a star’s structure and properties over its lifetime. Carbon burning occurs only in particular evolutionary paths and stellar cores.
Carbon-burning shell: A layer in an evolved star where carbon fusion supplies energy outside the central core. Carbon burning can continue in shells after it ends in the core.
Carbon deflagration: A subsonic combustion wave powered by carbon fusion in dense stellar material. Its subsonic flame differs from the comparatively gradual burning of a stellar core.
Neon-20: A stable neon isotope with ten protons and ten neutrons. It is a major product of carbon-12 fusion through the proton-emission channel.
Helium burning: Stellar fusion that converts helium into carbon and oxygen, chiefly through the triple-alpha process. It creates the carbon fuel consumed in the later burning stage.

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Isotopes of oxygenRelated: Carbon fusion is one route by which stars produce oxygen-16.