Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of January 2024 is presented. This month gave an above average number of hours of sunshine. As a result, a new record number of orbits could be collected: 4966 orbits derived from a total of 16838 meteors.
1 Introduction
From visual observations in the past, it is known that in the course of the month of January, sporadic activity begins to decrease. The Quadrantids at the start of January mark also the end of the series of major streams that produce displays since the month of July. Results for January strongly depend on the weather.
2 January 2024 statistics
January was also on the mild side in 2024 with an average temperature of 4 degrees. Often this means cloudy and gloomy conditions at night, but this year there were two short periods of clear weather. As a result, January 2024 was a bit sunnier than the climatological average. Something we had only seen in the CAMS years so far in 2017. Most hours of sunshine occurred during January 8–10 and January 26–27. And although meteor activity is decreasing then, we could collect a record number of orbits for this month during these three nights starting on January 8th. So far, the record number of orbits was 660 during the Quadrantid maximum in 2020. Starting with January 8–9 we collect 711, 673 and 742 orbits per night, actually, completely without any major shower activity.
The main reason for these high numbers of orbits is the growth of the number of cameras in our network, especially in 2023. Only three nights remained without any orbit at all (January 12–13, 13–14 and 25–26). Together with the year 2022 this is a record low number. In all other years there were at least six nights without any orbit. Unfortunately, the weather was bad around the Quadrantids maximum. On January 4–5 we collected 142 orbits, but in the previous nights, the number of orbits was limited to a few dozen. A total of 16838 meteors were captured by all 45 active stations, resulting in 4966 orbits. Nearly 55% of these simultaneous meteors were captured by more than two stations. This percentage is a bit lower than what we had in 2023. At least 96 of all 126 cameras at 44 stations were active each night, 126 cameras at the most, see Table 1. This month we could welcome two new stations. Jürgen Dörr in Wiesbaden (Germany) delivers now data obtained by his RMS-camera. Holger Pedersen in Otterup (Denmark) joined our network too. These cameras are both pointed in western direction. They give a better coverage for the areas just south of Belgium and the north of Germany and the Netherlands.
Figure 1 – Comparing January 2024 to previous months of January 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 CAMS-BeNeLux during the month of January in the period 2013–2024.
| Year | Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2013 | 7 | 49 | 6 | 6 | – | 2.6 |
| 2014 | 21 | 514 | 11 | 27 | – | 14.8 |
| 2015 | 22 | 880 | 14 | 39 | – | 26.1 |
| 2016 | 25 | 1037 | 15 | 49 | 10 | 34.0 |
| 2017 | 23 | 2058 | 18 | 55 | 18 | 42.3 |
| 2018 | 25 | 1878 | 22 | 86 | 53 | 72.1 |
| 2019 | 22 | 1857 | 20 | 75 | 54 | 64 |
| 2020 | 23 | 2075 | 21 | 83 | 64 | 72.9 |
| 2021 | 22 | 991 | 26 | 92 | 64 | 73.7 |
| 2022 | 28 | 1744 | 25 | 86 | 65 | 73.2 |
| 2023 | 25 | 2291 | 32 | 98 | 79 | 88.1 |
| 2024 | 28 | 4966 | 44 | 126 | 96 | 113.7 |
| Total | 271 | 20340 |
3 Conclusion
Results for January 2024 are the best in the history of CAMS-BeNeLux, mainly thanks to the increase in the number of stations and the number of cameras.
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 January 2024:
Stéphane Barré (Colombey-Les-Belles, France, RMS 3907), 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 3180, 3181, 3182 and 3183), 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 ), Jean Brunet (Fontenay le Marmion, France, RMS 3911), Seppe Canonaco (Genk, RMS 3818 and 3819), Pierre de Ponthiere (Lesve, Belgium, RMS 3816 and 3826), Bart Dessoy (Zoersel, Belgium, Watec 804, 805, 806), Tammo Jan Dijkema (Dwingeloo, Netherlands, RMS 3199), Jürgen Dörr (Wiesbaden, Germany, RMS 3810), Isabelle Ansseau, Jean-Paul Dumoulin, Dominique Guiot and Christian Wanlin (Grapfontaine, Belgium, Watec 814, 815, RMS 3817, 3843, 3844 and 3845), Uwe Glässner (Langenfeld, Germany, RMS 3800), Roel Gloudemans (Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands, RMS 3197), Luc Gobin (Mechelen, Belgium, Watec 3890, 3891, 3892 and 3893), Tioga Gulon (Nancy, France, Watec 3900 and 3901), Tioga Gulon (Chassignolles, France, RMS 3910), Robert Haas (Alphen aan de Rijn, Netherlands, Watec 3160, 3161, 3162, 3163, 3164, 3165, 3166 and 3167), Robert Haas (Texel, Netherlands, Watec 811 and 812), 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), Arnoud Leroy (Gretz-Armainvielliers, France, RMS3909), Horst Meyerdierks (Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, RMS 3807), Koen Miskotte (Ermelo, Netherlands, Watec 3051, 3052, 3053 and 3054), Pierre-Yves Péchart (Hagnicourt, France, RMS 3902, 3903, 3904, 3905, 3906 and 3908), Holger Pedersen (Otterup, Denmark, RMS 3501), 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, England, RMS 3703), Philippe Schaack (Roodt-sur-Syre, Luxemburg, RMS 3952), Hans Schremmer (Niederkruechten, Germany, Watec 803), Rob Smeenk (Assen, Netherlands, RMS 3196), Rob Smeenk (Kalenberg, Netherlands, RMS 3192, 3193, 3194 and 3195), Erwin van Ballegoij (Heesh, Netherlands Watec 3148 and 3149), Andy Washington (Clapton, England, RMS 3702).
