Photo of skydiver in front of the sun goes viral

PHOENIX (NBC, KYMA) - A photo taken in Southern Arizona is capturing the eyes and imaginations around the world.

Andrew McCarthy and Gabe Brown are both skydivers and pilots, but McCarthy is also an astrophotographer, taking photos of the moon, planets and other galaxies.

Both McCarthy and Brown shared how they all combined into one amazing photo.

"We thought, 'Well, maybe we can get an aircraft in the shot.' And we're both kind of thinking about it. Like, 'Ah, it's kind of lame. It's been done before.' But what if we get somebody jumping out of the plane in the shot? And then now our heads were turning," McCarthy explained. "Once we figured out it was possible, it was just a matter of figuring out the math of the proper distance and altitude to fly. And then of course, what time and day to fly."

Somewhere in Southern Arizona, the math added up.

What McCarthy and Brown got has never been shot before: A skydiver, Brown, dropping in front of an ultra high resolution sun taken with a special telescope.

"A few people have asked if they call me Icarus now," Brown shared.

Icarus is a Greek mythological character who flew too close to the sun and fell to earth. At least Gabe had a parachute.

"And there was a point where I was like, 'Yeah, what am I doing?' But I was so focused on getting the shot. I just kind of put that in the back of my mind, you know," Brown remembered.

It took six tries to get the ultralight aircraft in the right spot. After all, they had to be in exactly the right spot, not even a couple feet off, but when Brown jumped, that was it. One click.

"Crazy enough, we got it on the first jump," McCarthy remarked.

"I knew when he said he got it, I was like, 'Okay, so he got something,'" Brown added.

Since releasing that photo, it's gone viral, popping up in feeds around the world. Other photographers praised it, saying it's what dreams are made of while others wondered if it's AI or photoshop, but it is real. Very real.

"It's honestly very, very validating to see how much people love this shot," McCarthy expressed.

However,  a one in a million shot wasn't enough as McCarthy and Brown say they're already working on their next shot.