SCIENCE LAB SCENIC : UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBOR

WHEN Betelgeuse explodes - it will chew Betelbuddy into its individual atoms.

Betelgeuse, a colossal tangerine-red star, is barreling toward annihilation.

The stellar body is pronounced '' Beetlejuice '' like the guy in the afterlife whose name you're not supposed to say thrice. And at some point soon, in galactic terms, it is expected to explode as a supernova, setting the night sky ablaze.

Despite its self-destructive proclivities, the irritable giant has managed to make, and keep, a friend.

A team of astronomers recently announced that they had spotted another star hewing extremely close to Betelgeuse. So close, in fact, that the second star plows through the tenuous outer atmosphere of the red supergiant.

The two objects make for a strange pair. Unlike Betelgeuse, which is approaching the end of its life, the blue-white companion [ or Betelbuddy ] has yet to start burning hydrogen in its core.

In other words, the star hasn't entered the chapter of its life known as the main sequence - one that characterizes many stars, including our own. '' You have a star that is about to die, and it's being orbited by a star that's not fully born,'' said Miguel Montarges, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory who was not involved with the new research.

'' Isn't that crazy ? '' said Steve B. Howell, a scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California and one of the discoverers of the companion star. '' It's kind of crazy.''

It may seem cute that Betelgeuse has a friend. But with friends like Betelgeuse, who needs enemies?

If Betelgeuse goes supernova soon, the Betelbuddy will probably be obliterated. Even if the supernova isn't imminent, it looks as if the companion star '' will actually spiral into Betelgeuse and be engulfed,''  Dr. Howell said.

In other words, in either scenario, '' it will be destroyed,'' he said.

Jareed Goldberg, an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute in New York who was not involved with the new research, puts it more delicately.

" Betelgeuse and its buddy will hug eternally,'' he said.

The World Students Society thanks Robin George Andrews.