http://www.space.com/31532-black-hole-visible-light-telescope-discovery.html
Visible Light from a Black Hole Spotted by Telescope, a First

For the first time, astronomers have seen dim flickers of visible light from near a black hole, researchers with an international science team said. In fact, the light could be visible to anyone with a moderate-size telescope.

These dramatically variable fluctuations of light are yielding insights onto the complex ways in which matter can swirl into black holes, scientists added. The researchers also released a video of the black hole’s light seen by a telescope. In a statement, they added that such light from an active black hole could be spotted by an observer with a 20-cm telescope.

Impressive.

Yes, very interesting.

How come it took so long, Scientists discovered accreting black holes in the Milky Way more than 40 years ago, now we are just noticing the light from them.

Gas and matter get super heated to 10 million degrees Celsius creating the light

I was hoping for something more exotic, like light from another universe.

CrazyNeutrino said:

Yes, very interesting.

How come it took so long, Scientists discovered accreting black holes in the Milky Way more than 40 years ago, now we are just noticing the light from them.

Agree. So not sure I believe the claim of first. Most black holes are more visible in xrays.

The particular black hole in question is close. From 2009:
“Astronomers have accurately measured the distance between Earth and a particular black hole for the first time. And wow, is it close.

The researchers determined that the black hole V404 Cygni is located 7,800 light-years from Earth, or just slightly more than half the distance that was previously assumed.

That puts it relatively nearby to Earth, where the distance to the center of the galaxy is about 26,000 light-years”

CrazyNeutrino said:

Yes, very interesting.

How come it took so long, Scientists discovered accreting black holes in the Milky Way more than 40 years ago, now we are just noticing the light from them.

Wikipedia says this.
Stellar black holes in close binary systems are observable when matter is transferred from a companion star to the black hole. The energy release in the fall toward the compact star is so large that the matter heats up to temperatures of several hundred million degrees and radiates in X-rays (X-ray astronomy). The black hole therefore is observable in X-rays, whereas the companion star can be observed with optical telescopes. The energy release for black holes and neutron stars are of the same order of magnitude. Black holes and neutron stars are often difficult to distinguish.