The secret behind the photo of a man parachuting in front of the sun

The moment the skydiver fell in front of the Sun Gabriel C. Brown made the jump from a small propeller plane at an altitude of about 1,070 m, nearly 2,500 m from McCarthy's camera position.

Standing in the middle of Arizona's largest dry lake, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy struggled to keep his lens steady as a freight train roared past, shaking the ground and threatening to erase the moment he had prepared for months.

Last month, dozens of people gathered around holding their breath as the plane circled six times without McCarthy being able to take a single shot, according to CNN .

High above, Gabriel C. Brown, McCarthy's close friend and fellow skydiver, sat close to the edge of the door, waiting for the signal to exit the capsule.

Initially, the two thought that if they missed the first attempt, Brown could land, pack up his gear, and take off again. But that morning, the pilot announced that he could only assist once. As the sun began to rise, McCarthy and Brown had only one chance to shoot.

The moment Brown parachuted right in front of the Sun.

As the plane settled into position, McCarthy counted down: "Three, two, one, jump!" Brown immediately rushed out the door of the plane, quickly asking through the headset connected to his phone if the moment was being recorded.

This time, it was perfect. McCarthy captured the image of a lone figure falling straight before the blazing disk of the Sun, revealing its surface texture. He called it the perfect shot, and titled the work The Fall of Icarus .

The idea came after their first skydive when the two finished their flight and McCarthy asked the question: "What would happen if someone jumped out of a plane right in front of the Sun?" The photographer had previously recorded a rocket flying past the Sun, and he wanted to find a new challenge.

Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy.

It sounds daring, but it's nearly impossible. The sun must be low, the jumper must be high enough, and the photographer must be at the exact intersection of the two orbits.

When the plane is exactly between the Sun and the lens, the telescope reflects a bright light, signaling to the pilot that everything is aligned. Only then does the unique moment occur.

When the photo was published, Connor Matherne, a former collaborator with McCarthy, immediately recognized it as a work that "crossed all boundaries."

However, online, most comments doubted the authenticity of the photo, reflecting the common challenges of photography in the age of AI and increasingly sophisticated editing tools.

McCarthy captured the moment the rocket passed by the Sun.

Anticipating skepticism, McCarthy went behind the scenes, revealing the image processing process, stacking thousands of frames to sharpen the Sun's surface and reduce noise.

Spending dozens of hours on a photo and having it labeled as “fake” is frustrating for many photographers. But for McCarthy and his colleagues, the joy lies in capturing and sharing real moments, where the universe reveals its hidden beauty.

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