Microscopic nuclear structure relevant to nuclear astrophysics

Structure of exotic radioactive nuclei having extreme neutron-to-proton ratios is different from that around the stability line. Those nuclei are crucial astrophysically; they pave the highway along which the nuclear material is transported up in the proton and neutron numbers during the complicated synthesis processes in stars. Their structure is also crucial for our understanding of how the stars tick. This short review discusses the progress in microscopic nuclear modeling; relevant to nuclear astrophysics.