
Elusive molecule, first in Universe, detected in space - dnetesn
https://phys.org/news/2019-04-elusive-molecule-universe-space.html
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astazangasta
Why HeH+? What about good ol' H2?

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_Nat_
Apparently the universe was too hot for electrons to combine with atomic
nuclei at first, so everything was a plasma.

As it cooled, He grabbed up electrons first, forming the first neutral atoms
while H+ was still a plasma.

So there was a lot of He and H+ bouncing around at high temperature, allowing
the first molecules to form as [He-H]+.

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Sharlin
Yep. He has a higher _ionization energy_ than H.

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tzfld
I find somewhat interesting the contrast of what the HN community consider
being worth to mention. Like between manned moon base plans and a cosmology
related discovery we have the rumor of hiding Instagram likes.

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Jabbles
Hacker News is ostensibly focused on programmers building cool stuff.

A famous tech company doing something fairly minor will therefore compete with
big news from a branch of natural science.

