Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of April 2023 is presented. This month was good for 9763 multi-station meteors resulting in 2888 orbits.
Introduction
Meteor activity in April is still at a low level for northern latitudes. But around April 22nd, we welcome the first well-known yearly meteor shower, since the Quadrantids, in early January: the Lyrids.
April 2023 statistics
Weather in April was very unsettled with also temperatures slightly below average values. We could obtain results in 29 out of 30 nights. That seems a fairly good result. But on the other hand, the number of orbits obtained in each of these 29 nights, remained fairly low. This was caused by very different observing conditions across the BeNeLux for most of the time. Only in three nights we could collect more than 200 orbits (April 13–14, 19–20 and 25–26). In 8 nights, we collected less than 10 orbits (including one night without any orbit at all, the first night this month).
CAMS-BeNeLux collected 9763 multi-station meteors this month, resulting in a total of 2888 orbits. 56% of all orbits were captured by more than two stations.
On average 101 cameras were active this month. This number is much higher than last year, since the number of stations grow significantly in the last months.
At least 88 cameras were active every night. When we compare that with the results, this number clearly shows that many stations were very often cloudy for at least a part of the night.
Figure 1 – Comparing April 2023 to previous months of April in the CAMS-BeNeLux history. The blue bars represent the number of orbits, the red bars the maximum number of cameras capturing in a single night, the green bars the average number of cameras capturing per night and the yellow bars the minimum number of cameras.
Table 1 – Number of orbits and active cameras in the BeNeLux during the month of April in the period 2012–2023.
|
Year |
Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2012 | 6 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2.0 | |
| 2013 | 19 | 140 | 9 | 10 | 6.5 | |
| 2014 | 19 | 421 | 12 | 29 | 18.8 | |
| 2015 | 27 | 1212 | 15 | 43 | 33.9 | |
| 2016 | 26 | 971 | 17 | 50 | 15 | 37 |
| 2017 | 28 | 1235 | 20 | 60 | 32 | 48.2 |
| 2018 | 27 | 1929 | 21 | 83 | 59 | 73.3 |
| 2019 | 29 | 2538 | 20 | 84 | 44 | 67.7 |
| 2020 | 29 | 4128 | 25 | 94 | 76 | 89.4 |
| 2021 | 28 | 3061 | 27 | 91 | 59 | 80.6 |
| 2022 | 27 | 2543 | 24 | 81 | 62 | 77.2 |
| 2023 | 29 | 2888 | 36 | 111 | 88 |
101.4 |
| Total | 294 | 21077 |
|
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to all participants in the CAMS BeNeLux network for their dedicated efforts. The CAMS BeNeLux team was operated by the following volunteers during the month of April 2023:
Hans Betlem (Woold, Netherlands, Watec 3071, 3072, 3073, 3074, 3075, 3076, 3077 and 3078), Felix Bettonvil (Utrecht, Netherlands, Watec 376), Jean-Marie Biets (Wilderen, Belgium, Watec 379, 380 and 381), Ludger Boergerding (Holdorf, Germany, RMS 3801), Günther Boerjan (Assenede, Belgium, RMS 3823), Martin Breukers (Hengelo, Netherlands, Watec 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326 and 327, RMS 319, 328 and 329), Seppe Canonaco (Genk, RMS 3818 and 3819), Pierre de Ponthiere (Lesve, Belgium, RMS 3816 and 3826), Bart Dessoy (Zoersel, Belgium, Watec 804, 805 and 806), Tammo Jan Dijkema (Dwingeloo, Netherlands, RMS 3199), Isabelle Ansseau, Jean-Paul Dumoulin, Dominique Guiot and Christian Wanlin (Grapfontaine, Belgium, Watec 814 and 815, RMS 3814 and 3817), Uwe Glässner (Langenfeld, Germany, RMS 3800), Luc Gobin (Mechelen, Belgium, Watec 3890, 3891, 3892 and 3893), Tioga Gulon (Nancy, France, Watec 3900 and 3901), Robert Haas (Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands, Watec 3160, 3161, 3162, 3163, 3164, 3165, 3166 and 3167), Robert Haas (Texel, Netherlands, Watec 811, 812 and 813), Kees Habraken (Kattendijke, Netherlands, RMS 3780, 3781, 3782 and 3783), Klaas Jobse (Oostkapelle, Netherlands, Watec 3030, 3031, 3032, 3033, 3034, 3035, 3036 and 3037), Carl Johannink (Gronau, Germany, Watec 3100, 3101, 3102), Reinhard Kühn (Flatzby, Germany, RMS 3802), Hervé Lamy (Dourbes, Belgium, Watec 394 and 395, RMS 3825 and 3841), Hervé Lamy (Humain, Belgium, RMS 3821 and 3828), Hervé Lamy (Ukkel, Belgium, Watec 393 and 817), Hartmut Leiting (Solingen, Germany, RMS 3806), Koen Miskotte (Ermelo, Netherlands, Watec 3051, 3052, 3053 and 3054), Pierre-Yves Péchart (Hagnicourt, France, RMS 3902, 3903, 3904 and 3905), Eduardo Fernandez del Peloso (Ludwigshafen, Germany, RMS 3805), Tim Polfliet (Gent, Belgium, Watec 396, RMS 3820 and 3840), Steve Rau (Oostende, Belgium, RMS 3822), Steve Rau (Zillebeke, Belgium, Watec 3850 and 3852, RMS 3851 and 3853), Martin Richmond-Hardy (Kirton, England, RMS 3701), Paul and Adriana Roggemans (Mechelen, Belgium, RMS 3830 and 3831, Watec 3832, 3833, 3834, 3835, 3836 and 3837), Jim Rowe (Eastbourne, Great Britain, RMS 3829), Philippe Schaack (Roodt-sur-Syre, Luxemburg, RMS 3952), Hans Schremmer (Niederkruechten, Germany, Watec 803), Erwin van Ballegoij (Heesh, Netherlands Watec 3148 and 3149), Andy Washington (Clapton, England, RMS 3702).
