May 2023 report CAMS-BeNeLux

Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of May 2023 is presented. This month was good for 9756 multi-station meteors resulting in 2734 orbits.

Introduction

Beside the everlasting sporadic activity, this month is well known for one of the greatest meteor showers on the Southern Hemisphere, the eta Aquariids around May 6. Although meteor activity in early May is still at a low level in the BeNeLux, activity from this stream makes observations even in our regions attractive, especially around May 6.

May 2023 statistics

The weather in May showed two faces: a very unsettled first half of this month, and a very sunny second half. In 14 nights we could collect more than 100 orbits. No less than 12 of those nights occurred after May 15, which confirm the difference in clear nights in the first and second half of this month.

We could obtain results in 30 out of 31 nights, no orbits for May 8–9 although 6 cameras captured meteors but without triangulations. CAMS-BeNeLux collected 9756 multi-station meteors this month, resulting in a total of 2734 orbits. In these results too, we see a sharp difference for both halves of May: 987 orbits in the first half of May against 1747 orbits in the second half.

Nearly 60% of all orbits were captured by more than two stations, a bit higher than in the last months as a result from the exceptional good conditions in the BeNeLux after May 15.

On average 108 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 93 cameras were active every night. Unfortunately, station 3701 isn’t active anymore because the operator Martin Richmond-Hardy, passed away early May.

Figure 1 – Comparing May 2023 to previous months of May 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 May in the period 2012–2023.

Conclusion

Compared to other months of May only one year gave a better score in orbits. May 2020 delivered 3226 orbits. This was one of the sunniest months ever recorded in the BeNeLux with more than 300 hours of sunshine.

As a result we could collect some nights then with more than 200 orbits around the maximum of the eta Aquariids on May 6. Unfortunately, we could only collect a few orbits from this stream in 2023, due to the unsettled weather at that time.

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 May 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).