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atom: The atom nucleus was discovered in 1911, and its constituent parts about two decades later, according to Nine News Australia. Yet scientists still know very little about nuclei, which are about 10,000 times smaller than the atoms they sit in. But where do nuclei come from How are they forged Which forces govern their behaviour These are questions for a new particle accelerator dubbed SPIRAL2 to be inaugurated in Caen, northwest France, on Thursday. To study them, the 138 million-euro project will synthesise and examine so-called "exotic" nuclei, usually forged in the cores of stars and not found on Earth."We want to understand how these matter-building elements are produced under the extreme heat conditions found in stars," said Jean-Charles Thomas, a researcher at France CNRS science institute. Scientists hope the experiment will help explain why different nuclei have different proton to neutron ratios. To create such particles, scientists will shoot dense beams of ions -- atoms stripped of some of their electrons -- over a 40-metre tunnel some 10 metres underground."We will recreate what happens inside stars in the laboratory," Thomas told AFP. The beams will explode against a target surface, disintegrating into subatomic particles including nuclei, many of whom would never have been seen on Earth. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.