Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of June 2023 is presented. This month was good for 10725 multi-station meteors resulting in 2889 orbits.
Introduction
In June the sporadic meteor activity is slowly rising. On the other hand, no major shower is present in this month and astronomical twilight is lasting all night from BeNeLux latitudes. So, in all, meteor rates are low, and it is no surprise that the total amount of orbits in June after 11 years of CAMS activity is one of the lowest of all months.
June 2023 statistics
The weather in June was perfect: warm and sunny. In fact, June was the sunniest and warmest month of June since the start of the measurements in the Netherlands in 1901.
With regard to all months in a year, it was the sunniest month after July 2018 and May 1989. So, it should be no surprise that we could collect orbits in every single night this month.
In 17 nights, we could collect more than 100 orbits. This is a new record for June. The best results in June so far, looking at this limit, were obtained in June 2020 (12 nights with more than 100 orbits).
CAMS BeNeLux collected 10725 multi-station meteors this month, resulting in a total of 2889 orbits. And yes, this too is a new record for this month. 60.5% of all orbits were captured by more than two stations, a bit more than in the last months as a result from the good conditions in the BeNeLux.
On average 103.7 cameras were active this month. This number is much higher than last year, since the number of stations grow significantly compared to last year. At least 85 cameras were active in a single night this month. But these numbers are lower than last month, because observations at several stations were confronted this month with technical problems during several days.
We hope that most of the problems are solved next month.
Figure 1 – Comparing June 2023 to previous months of June 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 – June 2023 compared to previous months of June.
| Year | Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 0.0 |
| 2013 | 16 | 102 | 9 | 12 | – | 7.0 |
| 2014 | 23 | 379 | 13 | 31 | – | 19.0 |
| 2015 | 20 | 779 | 15 | 44 | – | 32.9 |
| 2016 | 18 | 345 | 17 | 50 | 15 | 35.7 |
| 2017 | 26 | 1536 | 19 | 66 | 30 | 52.1 |
| 2018 | 28 | 1425 | 21 | 78 | 52 | 64.9 |
| 2019 | 28 | 2457 | 20 | 84 | 63 | 75.6 |
| 2020 | 27 | 1834 | 24 | 93 | 60 | 83.1 |
| 2021 | 22 | 1389 | 26 | 81 | 54 | 73.3 |
| 2022 | 30 | 2228 | 30 | 94 | 74 | 85.2 |
| 2023 | 30 | 2889 | 35 | 114 | 85 | 103.7 |
| Total | 268 | 15363 |
Conclusion
Compared to other months of June this year gave a record number of orbits, due to very good weather conditions.
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 June 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 397, 398, 804, 805, 806, 3888 and RMS 3827), 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), 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).
