Neutrons produced by the carbon fusion reaction 12 C( 12 C,n) 23 Mg play an important role in stellar nucleosynthesis. However, past studies have shown large discrepancies between experimental data and theory, leading to an uncertain cross section extrapolation at astrophysical energies. We present the first direct measurement that extends deep into the astrophysical energy range along with a new and improved extrapolation technique based on experimental data from the mirror reaction 12 C( 12 C,p) 23 Na. The new reaction rate has been determined with a well-defined uncertainty that exceeds the precision required by astrophysics models. Using our constrained rate, we find that 12 C( 12 C,n) 23 Mg is crucial to the production of Na and Al in Pop-III Pair Instability Supernovae. It also plays a non-negligible role in the production of weak s-process elements as well as in the production of the important galactic γ-emitter 60 Fe. The first stars in the early Universe formed about 400 million years after the big bang. Verification of the existence of these stars is important for our understanding of the evolution of the Universe [1]. It has been predicted that for Population-III (metal-free stars [2]) stellar production yields, the abundances of odd-Z elements are remarkably deficient compared to their adjacent even-Z elements [3]. Astronomers are searching for long-lived, low mass stars with the unique nucleosynthetic pattern matching the predicted yields [4]. The relevance of 12 C( 12 C,n) 23 Mg in the first stars has been discussed by Woosley, Heger, and Weaver [5]. By the end of helium burning in Pop-III stars, the neutron to proton ratio in the ash is almost exactly 1. However, in the subsequent carbon burning phase, frequent β + decay of produced 23 Mg converts protons into neutrons, thus increasing the neutron to proton ratio. A slight excess of neutrons would significantly affect the abundances of the odd-Z isotopes with neutron to proton ratios higher than 1, e.g.23 Na and 27 Al.12 C( 12 C,n) 23 Mg is also a potentially important neutron source for the so-called weak s-process occurring in massive ) and ) stars. The weak s-process takes place during the core helium and shell carbon burning phases and is largely responsible for the s-process abundances up to A≈90 [6]. Pignatari et al. recently performed a study of the weak s-process during carbon shell burning for a 25 M stellar model using different 12 C( 12 C,n) 23 Mg rates [7]. They found that a factor of 2 precision or better would be desirable to limit its impact on the s-process predictions to within 10%.Stellar carbon burning has three main reaction channels:12 C + 12 C → 23 Mg + n − 2.60 MeV → 23 Na + p + 2.24 MeVWith Q < 0, the probability of decay through the neutron channel is weakest among the three at the low energies relevant for astrophysics. For a typical carbon shell burning temperature T 9 = 1.1, the important energy range for this channel is 2.7 < E cm < 3.6 MeV. The reaction was first studied in 1969 by Patterson et al. [8] who measured t...