An astrophotographer has captured the most stunning shot of the Sun one can imagine. The photo isn’t all about the Sun, but a moment showing a skydiver falling down with the flaring Sun in the background. Andrew McCarthy clicked a one-of-a-kind picture titled The Fall of Icarus. He collaborated with skydiver Gabriel C. Brown to create this amazing shot. McCarthy shared photos and videos of the occurrence. Brown can be seen jumping off with the Sun behind him, captured in hydrogen alpha light. There are different clicks, with one showing the complete Sun behind the skydiver, and another a close-up shot where you can also see the sunspots and plasma flaring around. Hydrogen alpha light is a specific wavelength which can capture the turbulent hydrogen layer above the Sun’s bright surface.
‘How cool’ yet ‘how difficult it would be to pull off’
The picture shows a perfect silhouette of Brown with every detail clearly visible. The Sun has been captured in photos several times by astrophotographers, but nothing like this has ever been attempted. Sharing the photo on his X account, McCarthy wrote, “We decided to release the photo in print- both as an up close shot and showing the full disc of the sun, which you can see here.”
Brown also shared the video and photos on his Instagram, sharing how they both came together to get this photo. He said that he met with McCarthy earlier this year for skydiving. Later, they talked about trying to capture this particular shot, and “how cool” it would look. He admitted they knew “how difficult it would be to pull off”, and yet, “I still can’t believe we pulled this off!!”
He shared the process, stating, they “had to find the right location, time, aircraft, and distance for the clearest shot; while factoring in the aircraft’s power-off glideslope for the optimal sun angle and safe exit altitude.” Besides getting all the technicalities right, there were a “myriad malfunctions that almost led to the shot not being captured… But as you can see, against all odds, we got it on the sixth try!”
