I modsætning til de lettere ædelgasser, så dannes xenon ikke i en stjernes normale [[stjernenukleosyntese]]-proces. Grundstoffer som er tungerer end <sup>56</sup>[[jern|Fe]] ''forbruger'' energi i stedet for at frigive energi, så der ikke er nogen energimæssig "gevinst" for en stjerne i at danne xenon.<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Donald D. | last=Clayton | year=1983
 | title=Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis
 | url=https://archive.org/details/principlesofstel0000clay | publisher=University of Chicago Press
 | id={{ISBN|0-226-10953-4}} }}</ref>. I stedet for dannes der mange isotoper af xenon ved en supernova-eksplosion.<ref name=heymann>{{cite conference
 | last=Heymann | first=D. | author2=Dziczkaniec, M.
 | title =Xenon from intermediate zones of supernovae
 | book-title =Proceedings 10th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
 | pages =pp. 1943-1959
 | publisher = Pergamon Press, Inc.
 | date = 19.-23. marts 1979
 | location = Houston, Texas
 | url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979LPSC...10.1943H
 | access-date = 2007-10-02
}}</ref>.
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