For the first time, evidence of noble gasses have been detected in a molecule spotted in space.

According to a press release, astronomers using Europe's Herschel Space Observatory found the molecule, argon hydride, in the Crab Nebula. Molecules of this nature have only been studied in labs on Earth, so finding one in the remains of a star that exploded 1,000 years ago is a rare discovery.

The main discovery, however, was the presence of noble gasses such as helium, argon, radon and krypton. Only under certain circumstances can they form molecules because otherwise they do not always react easily to one another. For this reason, they are usually found by themselves.

"The Crab Nebula was only formed 1000 years ago when a massive star exploded", said Dr. Haley Gomez of Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy. "Not only is it very young in astronomical terms, but also relatively close, at just 6,500 light years away, providing an excellent way to study what happens in these stellar explosions."

Previous studies involving Herschel have centered on how exploded stars like the Crab Nebula are created.

"Last year, we used the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory to study the intricate network of gas filaments to show how exploding stars are creating huge amounts of space dust," Gomez said.

According to the study leader, University of College London's Mike Barlow, that is what the astronomers set out do for this research. Their discovery of noble gasses was a planned objective.

"At first, the discovery of argon seemed bizarre," he said. "With hot gas still expanding at high speeds after the explosion, a supernova remnant is a harsh, hot and hostile environment, and one of the places where we least expected to find a noble-gas based molecule."

After further analysis, the astronomers determined the Crab Nebula had provided the ideal conditions for the formation of the molecule.

"Finding this kind of molecule allowed us to evaluate the type (or isotope) of argon we discovered in the Crab Nebula," said Gomez. "We now know that it is different from argon we see in rocks on the Earth. Future measurements will allow us to probe what exactly took place in the explosion 1000 years ago."