Although the hydrogen atoms are constantly scrambling, the overall range of types of structures can be characterized by three basic configurations.

The ultimate goal of this work is to identify a kind of signature for CH5+. Once we have it, we can compare it to what is observed from astronomical measurements to determine its abundance in different regions of space.

CH5+ has five hydrogen atoms scrambling around a carbon atom that sits at the center.

It turns out that this was the crucial step.

We are operating in a manner that we unfortunately must do, under the circumstances.

We are on or above targets we set.