The Life Cycle of the Stars

The triple alpha process is utilized by stars much later in their life when they are beginning to run out of Hydrogen to fuse. The basic principle is that 2 Helium nuclei fuse together to form a Berylium nuclei, which then fuses with another Helium nuclei to form a very stable Carbon nuclei. 

 

At each stage a lot of energy is released in the form of gamma radiation. 

 

The interesting thing about the triple alpha process is that the first stage is entirely reversible, which on occasion does happen with the solar shells surrounding the core of the star.

 

Below is the equation form of the triple alpha process.