Skydiver Silhouetted Against the Sun
Famed astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has a new showstopper.
The photo shows a skydiver seemingly tumbling across the blazing face of the Sun.
A cropped version of the full image. © Copyright Andrew McCarthy.
Titled “The Fall of Icarus,” the image pairs a razor-sharp solar mosaic with the upside-down silhouette of friend and collaborator Gabriel C. Brown, captured over the Arizona desert.
The result is a classic myth made modern. It also seems impossible to capture in lens, but is absolutely real.
“The Fall of Icarus”, captured in stunning hydrogen-alpha light. Image © Copyright Andrew McCarthy.
McCarthy shot the Sun in hydrogen-alpha light to reveal its hot, roiling chromosphere, then aligned Brown’s free-fall at just the right instant, after multiple precise passes by the aircraft, to etch the human figure against erupting prominences and swirls of plasma.
Andrew McCarthy and skydiver Gabriel C. Brown.
In terms of how this was captured, think choreography as much as photography. Radio coordination, narrow fields of view, and a composite assembled from high-resolution tiles to preserve every solar filament.
“The Fall of Icarus” is available as a limited print, joining McCarthy’s growing body of solar transits and sky-scale illusions. You can see more on McCarthy’s epic Instagram page, as well as his Astrophotography website.
It’s a deft blend of art and engineering, and a reminder that, with the right planning, even the Sun can be a backdrop.
Skydiver Gabriel C. Brown silhouetted against the Sun’s chromosphere. Image © Copyright Andrew McCarthy.
Images © Copyright Andrew McCarthy. Via PetaPixel.
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