what element comes after hydrogen?
Over 13 billion years since the Big Bang, hydrogen and helium still make up most of the visible matter in the universe. Nearly 10,000 galaxies appear in this Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. Enlarge Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and N. Pirzkal (STScI/ESA). The Big Bang also churned out helium, the next lightest element. You don't have any helium in you, unless you just sucked the gas out of a birthday balloon. But helium is the second most common element after hydrogen. Together they make up more than 98 percent of the matter in the universe.