However, the international academics at the EHT used a network of observatories globally, including the famed Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array telescope, which work together to form a virtual telescope that is effectively the size of the Earth.
The project captured light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun and 27,000 light years away from Earth.
The point where light disappears from view, dragged in by the black holes gravity, is known as the event horizon. Data was collected in 2017, but has taken until now to be processed and refined before being ready for publication. Imaging the Milky Ways crux is technically harder than the Messier 87 programme, the scientists said, even though it is much closer to Earth. The gas around Sagittarius A* moves much quicker than in the Messier 87 galaxy and, as a result, the brightness is constantly changing, making capturing an unobscured image challenging, with experts likening it to trying to take a clear picture of a puppy quickly chasing its tail.
Dr Ziri Younsi, an astronomer from University College London, an EHT collaboration member and co-author on the research papers describing the new findings, said: Our results are the strongest evidence to date that a black hole resides at the centre of our galaxy. This black hole is the glue that holds the galaxy together. It is key to our understanding of how the Milky Way formed and will evolve in the future.