The hydrohelium(1+) cation, HeH, also known as the helium hydride ion or helium-hydride molecular ion, is a positively charged ion formed by the reaction of a proton with a helium atom in the gas phase, first produced in the laboratory in 1925. It is isoelectronic with molecular hydrogen. It is the strongest known acid, with a proton affinity of 177.8 kJ/mol. It has been suggested that HeH should occur naturally in the interstellar medium, but it has not yet been detected. It is the simplest heteronuclear ion, and is comparable with the hydrogen molecular ion, H+
2. Unlike H+
2, however, it has a permanent dipole moment, which makes its spectroscopic characterization easier.