  We have developed a source of cold LiH molecules for Stark deceleration and
trapping experiments. Lithium metal is ablated from a solid target into a
supersonically expanding carrier gas. The translational, rotational and
vibrational temperatures are 0.9(0.1) K, 5.9(0.5) K and 468(17) K respectively.
Although they have not reached thermal equilibrium with the carrier gas, we
estimate that 90% of the LiH molecules are in the ground state, X^{1}
\Sigma^{+} (v=0, J=0). With a single 7 ns ablation pulse, the number of
molecules in the ground state is 4.5(1.8)*10^{7} molecules per steradian. A
second, delayed, ablation pulse produces another LiH beam in a different part
of the same gas pulse, thereby almost doubling the signal. A long pulse,
lasting 150 microseconds, can make the beam up to 15 times more intense.
