An astrophotographer has taken a phenomenal shot of a falling skydiver who seems to be perfectly aligned with the fiery surface of the Sun. Andrew McCarthy specialises in taking photos of the sun and said this picture, named as the Fall of Icarus, took ‘immense planning and technical precision’ to make it seem like the Earth–bound skydiver was free falling in outer space. (Picture: Andrew McCarthy)
Who is Icarus?
According to Greek mythology, Daedalus was a master craftsman who built a labyrinth for King Minos to imprison the Minotaur. However, after Minos had imprisoned Theseus in the labyrinth with the Minotaur, he then threw in Daedalus, along with his son, as he believed he had given Mino’s daughter, who was in love with Theseus, a ball of string to help him escape. While in the labyrinth, Daedalus created two pairs of wings in an attempt to escape. One set for himself and the other for his son, and they were made of metal feathers held to a leather frame by beeswax. He warned his son, Icarus, not to fly too close to the sun or sea but Icarus, overcome with joy, flew too high and soared into the Sun. The heat from the Sun melted his wings off, and he plunged into the sea, where he sank to the bottom and drowned. (Picture: Science Source/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images)
The skydiver in the stunning image is musician Gabriel Brown (left), who jumped from a small propeller–powered paramotor from an altitude of around 3,500 feet (1,070 metres). To get both the Sun and Gabriel in focus, Andrew’s camera had to be positioned on the ground almost two miles (3.2 km) away. Then the photographer had just a fraction of a second to capture the precise moment Gabriel passed in front of his lens – and the result is nothing short of spectacular. (Picture: cosmic_background/Instagram)
In a tweet, the astrophotographer said: ‘Immense planning and technical precision was required for this absolutely preposterous (but real) view: I captured my friend @BlackGryph0n transiting the sun during a skydive. This might be the first photo of it’s kind in existence.’ Gabriel shared several behind-the-scenes photos of the shoot in an Instagram post, including a video of him and Andrew celebrating the shot. (Picture: cosmic_background/Instagram)
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Andrew said: ‘Getting the alignment right was a huge challenge and lesson in patience. There were many passes with the aircraft that were so close but not good enough, and they ended up circling for an hour until they were aligned correctly with my narrow field of view. I absolutely love the contrast of the small human against our huge, dynamic star. It’s the juxtaposition that makes this so special, and feels so optimistic. Like despite our small size, we’re capable of so much.’ (Picture: cosmic_background/Instagram)
Amazingly, the image was captured on the first jump of the day, but despite weeks of planning, it took six attempts to properly line up the aircraft with the Sun. In some of the images you can see the dark, cooler patches of sunspots and the thin stripes of filaments created by the Sun’s swirling magnetic field, which is possible because the photo was taken in a part of the visible light spectrum where small details aren’t drowned out by the Sun’s bright outer layers. Andrew shoots in the Hydrogen–alpha band, which is a wavelength of light produced by the Sun’s cooler regions. (Picture: Andrew McCarthy)
Naturally, people were impressed with the picture. Elon Musk wrote: ‘Nice Shot.’ Nasa astronaut Don Petit praised Andrew’s work, writing on X: ‘Wow!’ While other people wrote: ‘My mind is gonna explode trying to figure out how the hell you plan these shots.’ Another wrote: ‘Incredible. Pure excellence.’ Gabriel added: ‘I still can’t believe we pulled this off!! Best Skydive of my life! (I also can’t believe I had to use trigonometry in real life. Mom was right!) Thanks for being just as stubborn as me, Andrew!’ (Picture: cosmic_background/Instagram)
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