Nuclear astrophysics

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations and was also endorsed by UNESCO. Investigations in the realms of particle and nuclear physicsmake a large contribution in the development of our ideas of the properties of the Universe. The present article discusses some problems of the evolution of the Universe, nucleosyntheses, and cosmochronology from the point of view of nuclear and particle physics. Processes occurring in the Universe are compared with the mechanisms of the production and decay of nuclei, as well as with the mechanisms of their interaction at high energies. Examples that demonstrate the potential of nuclearphysics methods for studying cosmic objects and the properties of the Universe are given. The results that come from investigations into nuclear reactions induced by beams of radioactive nuclei and which make it possible to take a fresh look at the nucleosynthesis scenario in the range at light nuclei are presented.