We recreated the very first molecule of the universe in a lab

Long before the earth, the solar system, the galaxies and the stars, there was Big Bang. Furthermore, It was 13.8 billion years ago, but scientists are still trying to unravel the secrets. Therefore, The universe had passed. Consequently, in a few seconds, from a density and extreme warmth to a much colder environment, and above all more conducive to the appearance of everything we know.

In a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysicsand presented on July 28. Consequently, 2025, scientists from the Max Planck Institute, but also from several European laboratories, including the universities of Rennes and Montpellier, say they have we recreated very first molecule reconstructed what was the very first molecule born from this key moment in our universe.

And heonium was – We recreated very first molecule

It is therefore heonium: a helium atom linked to an ionized hydrogen atom. Nevertheless, This molecule had already been recreated synthetically in the laboratory, and there were also traces through the universe. Similarly, But here. Furthermore, to fully understand the process, the researchers went a little further by trying to reconstruct the environment which prevailed then, just after the Big Bang. Therefore, They thus gave birth to this molecule and discovered that it played a major role in the developments that followed.

In the first hundreds of thousands of years of existence of the universe. the stars did not exist. In addition, the temperature was so high that the electrons were not attached to the atoms and floated freely. Until the day, around 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the temperature became more reasonable, barely 3,700 degrees. The nuclei of the helium and hydrogen atoms could finally bring them together and the diffuse gas disappeared. Which allowed the light to spread. This is the cosmological diffuse fund.

But all the atom nuclei did we recreated very first molecule not find electrons. So they met with each other and were able to take advantage of the presence of a photon to bond. This is how the first molecule called Heh+, or Hélonium, was created.

A stars builder

But back to the present. with the experiences carried out at the Max Planck Institute, in the German city of Heidelberg. In a cryogenic chamber placed at -267 degrees. as close as possible to the spatial environment, scientists reacted these helonium molecules with other Deuterium molecules. The idea was to understand what was going on during these collisions. and thus know how heonium had helped the appearance of the first stars.

Hélonium was often considered a first choice candidate to train the first stars. Thanks to collisions with other molecules. he could emit energy, until he helps the appearance of nuclear fusion, essential to the creation of stars. But the theory we recreated very first molecule wanted it to lose in efficiency with colder temperatures.

In a ring of 35 square meters. scientists therefore observed the collisions between heonium and deuterium, and discovered that the collision rate remained the same, including with colder temperatures, which contradicts part of theories, ensuring that heonium played only a limited role.

It therefore turns out that heonium was certainly one of the main star builders. with a much more important role than what previous work suggested. What revive interest in the NGC 7027 nebula. where heonium has been discovered, and which could hold the key to the first lights in the history of the universe.