The World Cup in space: Finding ionised buckyballs in the ISM with CARMENES

Over a century after the discovery of the first diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in absorption in stellar spectra (Heger et al 1922), their origin is still mostly unknown.

Over a century after the discovery of the first diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in absorption in stellar spectra (Heger et al 1922), their origin is still mostly unknown. The exception are four DIBs (out of 600+ known) in the 9300-9700 Angstrom region, for which a possible…