Status update of the MACE Gamma-ray telescope

MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment), an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, has recently been installed by the HiGRO (Himalayan Gamma-Ray Observatory) collaboration at Hanle (32.8 degrees N, 78.9 degrees E, 4270m asl) in Ladakh region of North India. The telescope has a 21m diameter large light collector consisting of indigenously developed 1424 square-shaped diamond turned spherical aluminum mirror facets of size similar to 0.5mx0.5m. MACE is the second largest Cherenkov telescope at the highest altitude in the northern hemisphere. The imaging camera of the telescope consists of 1088 photo-multiplier tubes with a uniform pixel resolution of similar to 0 .125 degrees covering a field of view of similar to 4.0 degrees x 4.0 degrees. The main objective of the MACE telescope is to study gamma-ray sources mainly in the unexplored energy region 20 -100 GeV and beyond with high sensitivity. In this paper, we describe the key design features and current status of MACE including results from the trial observations of the telescope.