Helium hydride – the first type of molecule that ever formed in the universe has been detected in space for the first time, after decades of searching.

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 -NASA revealed.

The discovery was made by NASA's SOFIA, a Boeing aircraft modified to carry a telescope.

The molecule was found in a planetary nebula located 3,000 light-years away.