---
title: "Astronomers Say They’ll Soon Release First Video of a Black Hole"
description: "A team of scientists is preparing to release the world's first video footage of an enormous black hole devouring vast clouds of gas."
date: "2019-09-06"
modified: "2019-09-06"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-black-hole-video"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "astrophysics"
  - "Black holes"
  - "telescopes"
  - "the digest"
---

# Astronomers Say They’ll Soon Release First Video of a Black Hole

![A team of scientists is preparing to release a world first: video footage of an enormous black hole devouring vast clouds of gas.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/first-video-black-hole.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Casting Call

In a [new interview](<https://news.yahoo.com/black-hole-movies-coming-soon-says-leading-astronomer-215824126.html>) with *Agence France-Presse,* the leader of the team that shared the first image of a black hole last year revealed the squad's next release: a video of the cosmic monster devouring vast clouds of gas.

"It could be that maybe we will make the first crude movie" by 2020, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Director Shep Doeleman told the news service. He also opined, modestly, that the project has "delivered more value than any other scientific project that I can think of in history."

## Star Power

Last year, Doeleman's team made history when it [released a still image](<https://futurism.com/scientists-release-first-image-black-hole>) of M87\*, an [unfathomably colossal](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/big-m87-black-hole-compared-the-earth>) black hole at the heart of a distant galaxy.

To pull off the unprecedented feat, the Event Horizon Telescope researchers crunched the data from a network of eight telescopes around the world.

## Hole Show

According to Doeleman, the team has already collected all the data it needs to make the video, but it's still processing the huge cache of information. *AFP* warned, though, that the resulting video "might be a little jerky."

"We do see ourselves as explorers, we've taken a journey in our minds," Doeleman told *AFP*. "And we are instruments at the edge of a black hole. And now we're coming back to report what we found."

**READ MORE:** [Black hole movies coming soon, says leading astronomer](<https://news.yahoo.com/black-hole-movies-coming-soon-says-leading-astronomer-215824126.html>) \[*AFP*\]

**More on black holes:** *[Spotted: A Black Hole That Shouldn't Be Physically Possible](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/found-black-hole-vast-should-not-exist>)*

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)