Here's The First Black Hole Picture Ever Seen By Mankind

WASHINGTON, DC — Black holes have captivated Americans for decades, particularly science fiction fans. They've appeared in major Hollywood movies and TV shows such as Christopher Nolan's space epic "Interstellar," the "Star Trek" movies and "Stargate: SG-1." But to this point no one has ever actually seen a black hole, other than renditions of what artists and scientists think they look like.

On Wednesday, that changed.

The Event Horizon Telescope project and the National Science Foundation presented mankind's first-ever direct photo of a black hole or its event horizon, the area surrounding the black hole and is the point where nothing can escape its gravity. (Not even light.) The collaboration photographed Sagittarius A*, which has a mass of about 4 million times greater than the sun. The supermassive black hole is located over 50 million light-years away in the elliptical galaxy Messier 87.

France Córdova, director of the foundation, spoke at the event and took questions along with a panel from the telescope project. The event began at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. You can watch the event right here on Patch.

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering research and education.