First-of-Its-Kind Photograph Shows Silhouette of a Skydiver Perfectly Aligned With Sun’s Fiery Surface

According to the Greek myth “The Fall of Icarus,” Icarus, the son of a craftsman, ignored his dad’s warning and flew too close to the Sun. Recently, the famous astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) has rewritten the myth with an altogether modern perspective. McCarthy, who specializes in photographing the Sun, rolled out a photograph that has turned more than 7 million heads with stark wonder. Titled with the same name as the ancient myth, the photograph shows an eldritch silhouette of a man tumbling down from the fiery Sun. Viewers say it will make up a perfect cover for a sci-fi book or a music album.

McCarthy created this photograph in collaboration with his friend and musician Gabriel Brown (@BlackGryph0n) and the ultralight pilot Jim Hamberlin, who guided Gabe to jump at the right time during the sky-diving trip. The entire process took an “absolutely preposterous” level of planning, McCarthy said in the caption on X.

The surreal photograph, which almost resembles the shadow portrait of a naïve human falling from a star, displays Gabe’s black silhouette pirouetting downwards against the backdrop of blazing yellow-orange Sun. The fiery glow in the background paints a contrast with the tiny silhouette. The picture makes it look as if someone suspended Gabe on an ultra-long string connected to the Sun, then someone pushed him down, and while he fell, the camera snapped the photo. But it was much simpler. According to McCarthy’s description, Gabe humped from a small propeller-powered craft at an altitude of around 3,5000 feet, around 8,000 feet from the camera and telescopes set on the desert ground.

“This might be the first photo of its kind in existence,” McCarthy exclaimed. And although it took them about six attempts to capture this photo, it was captured on the first and the only jump of the day. "You can see the excitement on my face in the videos," McCarthy told Live Science. "Seeing it perfectly captured on my monitors was exhilarating." Brown even shared behind-the-scenes photos and clips of the entire process on his Instagram.

In a comment on the X thread, McCarthy explained that he kept shooting the Sun after the jumper cleared the frame and used that data to sharpen the Sun behind the jumper. By maintaining the right distance from his friend, about 1.5 miles, he was able to get the perfect perspective. The Sun in the background was sharpened via a stacked image, but “the image is 100% real and authentically captured in camera,” he clarified, adding that it’s "not" a composite. “Nice shot,” said Elon Musk (@elonmusk), commenting on the picture. Photographer @johnkrausphotos said, “One of the most unreal photographs ever, except it is real.” @zeusdlt3 added, “Very groovy, I must say.” @gregl83 wrote, “This might be one of the greatest astro/adventure/experience shots I've ever seen.”

The photo has been featured by Forbes, CBS News, WIRED, The Mirror, My Modern Met, and other top media outlets. You can also purchase the print version of the photo on this website.