Core helium burning begins when a hydrogen-exhausted stellar core becomes hot enough for the Triple-alpha process. Subsequent alpha capture on carbon produces oxygen, leaving a carbon-oxygen core after central helium exhaustion.
A helium flash is a thermally unstable ignition of helium in an electron-degenerate stellar core. A nondegenerate intermediate-mass core can expand and regulate ignition, so a usual isolated star of five solar masses begins core helium burning without this flash.
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