In this work, we present a multiwavelength study of the blazar 1ES 1218+304 using near simultaneous observations over 10 yr during the period 2008 September 1 to 2018 August 31 (MJD 54710–58361). We have analysed data from Swift-UVOT, Swift-XRT, and Fermi-LAT to study the long term behaviour of 1ES 1218+304 in different energy bands over the last decade. We have also used the archival data from OVRO, MAXI, and Swift-BAT available during the above period. The near simultaneous data on 1ES 1218+304 suggest that the long term multiwavelength emission from the source is steady and does not show any significant change in the source activity. The optical/UV fluxes are found to be dominated by the host galaxy emission and can be modelled using the pegase code. However, the time averaged X-ray and γ-ray emissions from the source are reproduced using a single zone leptonic model with log-parabolic distribution for the radiating particles. The intrinsic very high energy γ-ray emission during a low activity state of the source is broadly consistent with the predictions of the leptonic model for blazars. We have investigated the physical properties of the jet and the mass of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the host galaxy using long term X-ray observations from the Swift-XRT which is in agreement with the value derived using blackbody approximation of the host galaxy. We also discuss the extreme nature of the source on the basis of X-ray and γ-ray observations.

The field of ground-based $\gamma$-ray astronomy has made very significant advances over the last three decades with the extremely successful operations of several atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes worldwide. The advent of the imaging Cherenkov technique for indirect detection of cosmic $\gamma$ rays has immensely contributed to this field with the discovery of more than 220 $\gamma$-ray sources in the Universe. This has greatly improved our understanding of the various astrophysical processes involved in the non-thermal emission at energies above 100 GeV. In this paper, we summarize the important results achieved by the Indian $\gamma$-ray astronomers from the GeV-TeV observations using imaging Cherenkov telescopes over the last two decades. We mainly emphasize the results obtained from the observations of active galactic nuclei with the TACTIC (TeV Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope with Imaging Camera) telescope, which has been operational since 1997 at Mount Abu, India. We also discuss the future plans of the Indian $\gamma$-ray astronomy program with special focus on the scientific objectives of the recently installed 21 m diameter MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment) telescope at Hanle, India.

The TeV atmospheric Cherenkov telescope with imaging camera (TACTIC) γ-ray telescope has been in operation at Mt. Abu, India since 2001 to study TeV γ-ray emission from celestial sources. During the last 10 years, apart from consistently detecting a steady signal from the Crab Nebula above ∼1.2 TeV energy, at a sensitivity level of ∼5.0 σ in ∼25 h, the telescope has also detected flaring activity from Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 on several occasions. Although we used Crab Nebula data partially, in some of the reported results, primarily for testing the validity of the full data analysis chain, the main aim of this work is to study the long term performance of the TACTIC telescope by using consolidated data collected between 2003 and 2010. The total on-source data, comprising ∼402 h, yields an excess of ∼(3742±192) γ-ray events with a statistical significance of ∼19.9 σ. The off-source data, comprising ∼107 h of observation, is found to be consistent with a no-emission hypothesis, as expected. The resulting γ-ray rate for the on-source data is determined to be ∼(9.31±0.48) h ⁻¹. A power law fit (dΦ/dE=f ₀ E ^−Γ ) with f ₀ ∼ (2.66±0.29) × 10⁻¹¹ cm⁻² s⁻¹ TeV⁻¹ and Γ ∼ 2.56±0.10 is found to provide reasonable fit to the inferred differential spectrum within statistical uncertainties. The spectrum matches reasonably well with that obtained by other groups. A brief summary of the improvements in the various subsystems of the telescope carried out recently, which has resulted in a substantial improvement in its detection sensitivity (viz., ∼5 σ in an observation period of ∼13 h as compared to ∼25 h earlier) are also presented in this paper. Encouraged by the detection of strong γ-ray signals from Mrk 501 and Mrk 421 on several occasions, there is considerable scope for the TACTIC telescope to monitor similar TeV γ-ray emission activity from other active galactic nuclei on a long-term basis.