When researcher Eddie Gault momentarily placed his camera on the ground it’s unlikely that he was expecting to end up with one of the best selfies ever taken.

However, thanks to two extremely curious emperor penguins that’s precisely what took place resulting in this glorious image.

Being naturally inquisitive animals, the two penguins can be seen leaning in to investigate the alien object having knocked it onto its back.

The two then give it an exploratory poke with their beaks, have a little chirp to one another and then finally lose interest.

Gault, a researcher for the Australian Antarctic Division, had been visiting Mawson research station which just so happened to have a large emperor penguin colony nearby.

Having retrieved his camera from the penguins, Gault then saw the masterpiece that he had inadvertently created and then shared the footage with the organisation who in turn published it on their social media channels.

Now while it isn’t technically what you would call a selfie (the penguins neither held the camera or pressed the shutter) we think it’s fair to say that the resulting image means gets to be an exception to the rule.