No Longer "Noble"; Argon Compound Found In Space

mbstone writes "Scientists at the University College of London — where argon was originally discovered in 1894 — have now found spectroscopic signatures of molecules of argon hydride (ArH), said to be produced via explosive nucleosynthesis in a core-collapse supernova in the Crab Nebula. The post-supernova molecular dust was observed by the Herschel Space Observatory shortly before it ran out of coolant in April.."

Comments

Re:What's next?

[jo_ham]

Argon has already been shown to be "non-noble" many years ago - hell, you can buy Argon compounds from chemical suppliers right now (like Argon difluoride).

The title is simply scientific ignorance.

Re:What does the comment about "Noble" mean?

[gstrickler]

The fact that argon hydride was found in space implies that krypton, xenon, and radon hydride can also be found in space.

Probably, but since the quantities of those elements will be dramatically lower than argon, detecting them will likely be much more difficult.

Noble gas molecular ions have long been known

[Anonymous Coward]

Argon molecular ions were known well before that. The helium analogue, HeH+, was discovered in 1925!