In astrophysics milestone, first photo of black hole expected

FILE PHOTO: A supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun is seen in an undated NASA artist's concept illustration. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists are expected to unveil on Wednesday the first-ever photograph of a black hole, a breakthrough in astrophysics providing insight into celestial monsters with gravitational fields so intense no matter or light can escape.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has scheduled a news conference in Washington to announce a "groundbreaking result from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project," an international partnership formed in 2012 to try to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole.