Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS BeNeLux network during the month of June 2024 is presented. This month was good for 10136 multi-station meteors resulting in 2845 orbits.

 

Introduction

In June the sporadic meteor activity is slowly rising. On the other hand, no major shower is present in this month and the astronomical twilight is lasting all night from BeNeLux latitudes. So, in all, meteor rates are low, and it is no surprise that the total number of orbits in June, after 11 years of CAMS activity is one of the lowest of all months. Only in March, when sporadic meteor activity reaches its lowest level, the number of orbits is at the same low level.

June 2024 statistics

The weather was very variable in June. In fact, the pattern of the previous months continued. Thanks to the increased number of stations and cameras, the total score of orbits was still comparable to the month of June 2023, when we could collect a record number of 2889 orbits.

In total, we captured 10136 meteors from multiple stations. This resulted in a total of 2845 orbits. In 15 nights, despite the short duration of these nights, more than 100 orbits per night were recorded. Compared to the special month of June 2023, that is still a very nice score. In that extremely sunny month, we had 17 nights with that criterion. The highest score was achieved in the night 25–26 June: 253 orbits. Never before so many orbits have been collected in one night in June. 56.1% of all orbits were recorded by more than 2 stations. If you look at the average percentage of cameras deployed in a night compared to the number of cameras in that night with meteors, that percentage is only 61%. As in several previous months this year, these percentages are somewhat lower due to the unstable weather.

On average, 116 cameras were active on each night during this month. At least 104 cameras were active every night to capture meteors. This is a significant increase compared to June last year. Unfortunately, the stations on Texel and Oostkapelle are not active for various reasons for the time being. However, the cameras in Burlage have been back in operation since 19 June.

Figure 1 – Comparing June 2024 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 – Number of orbits and active cameras in CAMS-BeNeLux during the month of June in the period 2012–2024.

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
2024 27 2845 44 124 104 115.9
Total 295 18208

 

Conclusion

Compared to other months of June this year we have collected nearly a record number of orbits, despite moderate weather conditions. The good result is due to the greater number of cameras involved in our network.

Acknowledgment

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 2024:

Stéphane Barré (Colombey-Les-Belles, France, RMS 3907), Hans Betlem (Woold, Netherlands, Watec 3071, 3072, 3073, 3074, 3075, 3076, 3077 and 3078), Jean-Marie Biets (Engelmanshoven, 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 398, 805 and 806 and RMS 3827), 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, 3893 and 3894), 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 (Burlage, Germany, RMS 3803 and 3804), Kees Habraken (Kattendijke, Netherlands, RMS 3780, 3781, 3782 and 3783), Carl Johannink (Gronau, Germany, Watec 3100, 3101, 3102), Reinhard Kühn (Flatzby, Germany, RMS 3802), Hervé Lamy (Dourbes, Belgium, Watec 394 and 395, RMS 3825, 3841, 3895, 3896, 3897 and 3898), 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, Tim Polfliet (Grimbergen, Belgium, RMS 3846), 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), Romke Schievink (Bruchhausen Vilsen, Germany, RMS 3808 and 3809), 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).