We love a good astronomy picture, thanks to prizes like the Astronomy Photographer Of The Year, the quality of astrophotography continues to grow with ever better composition and ideas. Yesterday, however, will be remembered as the day astrophotography had its bar raised by literal kilometers.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.A collaboration between astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy and skydiver Gabriel C. Brown produced an image like we have never seen before. Called The Fall of Icarus, it shows Brown falling over an incredible image of the Sun in hydrogen alpha light. This is a specific wavelength that traces the turbulent hydrogen layer just above the Sun’s bright surface. The result speaks for itself.
The silhouette of Brown is neatly demarcated against the bubbling surface of the Sun. His downward trajectory is perfectly framed between sunspots, active regions on the surface of the Sun that are slightly cooler than their surrounding areas. This is not just a pretty picture; it is truly a masterpiece.
“Gabe and I met up to skydive a few months ago, and afterwards we had breakfast and were talking about how we could incorporate skydiving into astrophotography. This idea slowly evolved from there, to take a paramotor to altitude and have him jump while I got the shot,” McCarthy told IFLScience.
Zoomed in version of The Fall of Icarus.
Image Courtesy of Andrew McCarthy
Put it like that, McCarthy almost makes it sound easy. It was not. The composition was planned; McCarthy, Brown, and the paramotor pilot were constantly talking to make sure everything would be aligned perfectly for the shot that McCarthy had in mind.
“This was quite tricky! I set up several cameras and got on a 3-way call with the pilot and Gabe. The pilot watched his shadow as he climbed in the aircraft, and when he saw it was going to intersect where I was set up, he would idle his power and glide through the Sun, while I gave commands on how to steer once I could see his silhouette," McCarthy explained. "It took six attempts at this before finally lining the jumper up with the sunspots, when I used the command to jump."
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Brown points out in the Instagram post how a series of malfunctions got in the way during the first five attempts. We can sincerely say that we are glad they persevered. The result is truly a phenomenal piece.
You can buy limited editions of McCarthy's astrophotography prints on his website.