Images of black holes expected within a year

AUSTIN, Texas - After years of global efforts, the first-ever images of our own galaxy's central black hole are expected to be released within this year, according to scientists working on the Block Hole Initiative.

"We're very optimistic that it will succeed. We've done almost everything," Sheperd Doeleman, a senior astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told a conference session of the ongoing 10-day South by Southwest festival, a platform that gathers innovators and entrepreneurs from across the globe to discuss new ideas.

Doeleman, assistant director of the center's Black Hole Initiative, said that the remaining work involves testing and double checking what have been obtained; after that, the images will be finalized and officially announced sometime in 2019.