  For many years, astronomers interested in white dwarf stars have promised
that the study of these relatively simple compact objects would ultimately lead
to useful information about the physics under extreme conditions of temperature
and pressure. We are finally ready to make good on that promise. Using the
observational techniques of the Whole Earth Telescope developed over the past
decade, and a new analytical method only recently made feasible by the
availability of fast inexpensive computers, we demonstrate that meaningful
constraints can now be made on the rates of important nuclear fusion reactions
which cannot presently be measured in the laboratory.
