the sun - Can the Sun become a big ball of gold atoms?

Carl Sagan answers this in the Cosmos series. Here is an excerpt.

The matter in the known Universe is made up of 74% Hydrogen. In most
of the stars we see, hydrogen nuclei are being jammed together to form
helium nuclei. Every time a nucleus of helium is made, a photon of
light is generated. This is why the stars shine. Helium accounts for
24% of matter in known Universe. In fact, helium was detected on the
sun before it was ever found on the Earth. These two elements have
accounted for 98% of matter. Might the other chemical elements have
somehow evolved from hydrogen and helium?

Three units, put together in different patterns make, essentially,
everything – “Neutron, Proton and Electron”. If you’re an atom and you
have just one proton you’re hydrogen. Two protons, helium. And so on.
Protons have positive electrical charges. But since like charges repel
each other, why does the nucleus hold together? Why don’t the
electrical repulsion of the protons make the nucleus fly to pieces?
Because there’s another force in nature. Not electricity, not gravity.
The nuclear force!! We can think of it as short-range hooks which
start working when protons or neutrons are brought very close
together.The nuclear force can overcome the electrical repulsion of
the protons.

A lump of two protons and two neutrons is the nucleus of a helium atom
and is very stable. Three helium nuclei, stuck together by nuclear
forces makes carbon. Four helium nuclei makes oxygen. There’s no
difference between four helium nuclei stuck together by nuclear forces
and the oxygen nucleus. They’re the same thing.

How easy is that to fuse nuclei? To avoid the
electrical repulsion protons and neutrons must be brought very close
together so the hooks which represent nuclear forces are engaged. This
happens only at very high temperatures, where particles move so fast
that there’s no time for electrical repulsion to act. Temperatures of
tens of millions of degrees. Such high temperatures are common in
nature. Where? In the insides of the stars. Atoms are made in the
insides of stars.

It is possible to make atoms with up to 26 Protons [Iron] in a Star.
Above that, We need a supernova to create atoms with 30 protons, 40
protons, 50 protons or even 60 protons. Nature prefers ‘even’ numbers
for stability. But ‘Gold’ is an odd-numbered atom. It has 79 Protons.
It needs more than a super nova for its creation. It needs 2 Neutron
stars to collide directly. This collision alone can favor the creation
of stable atoms of Gold.

Since neutron star collisions are also suggested as the origin of
short duration gamma-ray bursts, it is possible that you already own a
souvenir from one of the most powerful explosions in the universe.

Except for hydrogen and helium every atom in the sun and the Earth was
synthesized in other stars. The silicon in the rocks, the oxygen in
the air, the carbon in our DNA, the gold in our banks, the uranium in
our arsenals were all made thousands of light-years away and billions
of years ago. Our planet, our society and we ourselves are built of
“star stuff“.