He jumped out of a plane and landed “inside the Sun”? ‘Fall of Icarus’ photo is taking social media by storm

Falling has never looked so beautiful. In a breathtaking fusion of art, photography, and sheer human daring, a skydiver appears to plunge directly into the fiery Sun in a single, perfectly timed frame. The photograph, titled The Fall of Icarus, transforms a fleeting moment of freefall into a mythic, almost painterly scene—proof that photography can turn human action into cosmic art.

The image is the result of a collaboration between astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy from Arizona and professional skydiver and musician Gabriel C. Brown. McCarthy meticulously set up a specialised solar imaging rig on the ground while Brown jumped from a small propeller plane at roughly 3,500 feet, with the camera positioned about 8,000 feet away.

The idea came from a casual conversation over breakfast after