First EVER shots of a black hole in the Milky Way to be released on April 10

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The first ever direct picture of a black hole in the Milky Way could soon be released to an eager public.

Direct images of these gaping maws are difficult to make as they swallow all light that surrounds them, leaving an absence of anything to picture.

Researchers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) first hinted back in January that they had captured such an image in the Milky.

A press conference on April 10 will see the first results from the Event Horizon Telescope - with many expecting the image to finally be released

An international team of astronomers has been monitoring two primary targets, including Sagittarius A*, located in the centre of the Milky Way.

Another target is believed to be M87 in the Virgo cluster of galaxies.

Observations on these black holes have been conducted by a project called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a series of telescopes collectively the size of Earth.

Professor Peter Galison, who works on the project, said that if the project was successful, the image will become the most 'iconic images of science'.

The EHT Collaboration are in the process of analysing the results from the first full run of data from 2017, which is expected to be unveiled at the upcoming conference.

If the researchers were successful in obtaining a picture it would be one of the most significant breakthroughs in the past 50 years of astronomy.