NASA | Ames Research Center | SOFIA | 2019 Apr 17
The first type of molecule that ever formed in the universe has been detected in space for the first time, after decades of searching. Scientists discovered its signature in our own galaxy using the world’s largest airborne observatory, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, as the aircraft flew high above the Earth’s surface and pointed its sensitive instruments out into the cosmos.Click to play embedded YouTube video.
When the universe was still very young, only a few kinds of atoms existed. Scientists believe that around 100,000 years after the big bang, helium and hydrogen combined to make a molecule called helium hydride for the first time. Helium hydride should be present in some parts of the modern universe, but it has never been detected in space — until now.
SOFIA found modern helium hydride in a planetary nebula, a remnant of what was once a Sun-like star. Located 3,000 light-years away near the constellation Cygnus, this planetary nebula, called NGC 7027, has conditions that allow this mystery molecule to form. The discovery serves as proof that helium hydride can, in fact, exist in space. This confirms a key part of our basic understanding of the chemistry of the early universe and how it evolved over billions of years into the complex chemistry of today. ...
The Universe's First Molecule is found at Last
Universities Space Research Association (USRA) | 2019 Apr 17
First Astrophysical Detection of the Helium Hydride Ion
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy | 2019 Apr 17
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German Aerospace Center (DLR) | 2019 Apr 23
Astrophysical Detection of the Helium Hydride Ion HeH+ ~ Rolf Güsten et al
- Nature 568(7752):357 (18 Apr 2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1090-x
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1904.09581 > 21 Apr 2019