India, Jan. 21 -- The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS will come very closely aligned with the Sun-Earth axis on January 22, allowing scientists to use the event as an occasion to investigate the object, which is currently beyond our solar system.

On January 22, 3I/ATLAS will be nearly on the same line connecting the Sun and Earth, at only 0.69 degrees. This very specific location gives Earth the position nearly directly separating the Sun and the object, therefore making it possible to see a phenomenon called opposition surge, where the light getting bounced off the dust looks very bright.

The dominant interpretation of this brightness flare involves the pixels of dust hiding their own shadows when light comes directly from the observer's ...