We may get an answer to that in the future via the Event Horizon Telescope [1] which plans to &quot;directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole with angular resolution comparable to the event horizon.&quot;<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eventhorizontelescope.org&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eventhorizontelescope.org&#x2F;index.html</a>