JWST Detects a 'Forbidden' Signal Never Before Seen in The Universe - Not Even in a Lab

Key Points:

• Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have, for the first time, detected the faint rotational light emissions from the trihydrogen cation (H3+), a molecule crucial to interstellar chemistry and the formation of complex organic molecules.
• The detection was made in the Herbig-Haro object HH 168, where newborn stars generate powerful shock waves that heat surrounding gas, making the faint emissions of H3+ observable in the infrared spectrum.
• This discovery confirms a 1986 prediction that H3+ emits weak "forbidden" rotational radiation due to slight distortions in its molecular shape caused by centrifugal forces during rotation.
• The H3+ emission closely correlates with molecular hydrogen emissions in shocked gas, though current shock wave models struggle to fully explain the unexpectedly strong intensity of the H3+ signal.
• Similar emissions were also found in another Herbig-Haro object, HH 211, suggesting that H3+ could become a valuable tool for studying the chemistry of star-forming regions and the evolution of the Universe.