Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of October 2024 is presented. This month we collected a total of 34577 multi-station meteors resulting in 10605 orbits.
Introduction
Sporadic meteor activity is near its peak this month. Some major showers, such as the Orionids and Taurids, are also visible. Meanwhile observations are possible for more than 12 hours from our latitudes. These facts make October one of the finest months for meteor observing. We looked forward to see what this month would bring this year.
October 2024 statistics
The main character of this month was its mostly unstable weather. But for the first time we could collect orbits in every night this month.
The best circumstances were at the start of the month and just at, and shortly after the Orionid maximum. On October 3–4, 4–5, and 22–23 this resulted in each night in more than 900 orbits. The highest number of orbits (1299) was recorded on October 23–24. CAMS-BeNeLux captured in October a grand total of 34577 multi-station meteors, resulting in 10605 orbits.
On average 120 cameras were active each night. This number is approximately 20% higher than last year. The highest number of active cameras was 127, and the smallest number of active cameras was 113. Both numbers are also remarkable higher than last year. See Table 1 and Figure 1.
This is a result of the expansion of our network in England during the last months and in France last year. The difference between the highest and lowest number of active cameras per night reflects also the fact that although weather wasn’t very stable, most of the cameras function all nights regardless the weather. There were always clear periods in the regions where our cameras are active.
However, there are minor technical problems here and there, as a result of which some cameras were out of service for a shorter or longer period of time. It is striking that the RMS cameras have also been increasingly suffering from malfunctions in recent months.
The number of camera stations this month was 49, equal to this number in September.
Figure 1 – Comparing October 2024 to previous months of October 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 October in the period 2012–2024.
| Year | Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2012 | 16 | 220 | 6 | 7 | – | 3.9 |
| 2013 | 20 | 866 | 10 | 26 | – | 16.8 |
| 2014 | 22 | 1262 | 14 | 33 | – | 19.7 |
| 2015 | 24 | 2684 | 15 | 47 | – | 34.8 |
| 2016 | 30 | 3335 | 19 | 54 | 19 | 41.3 |
| 2017 | 29 | 4163 | 22 | 87 | 45 | 74.4 |
| 2018 | 29 | 9611 | 21 | 82 | 52 | 73.0 |
| 2019 | 29 | 3344 | 20 | 76 | 47 | 67.5 |
| 2020 | 29 | 3305 | 23 | 90 | 52 | 70.9 |
| 2021 | 29 | 9669 | 26 | 94 | 70 | 82.2 |
| 2022 | 30 | 9749 | 31 | 94 | 68 | 86.4 |
| 2023 | 30 | 7404 | 38 | 112 | 78 | 97.9 |
| 2024 | 31 | 10605 | 49 | 127 | 113 | 120.1 |
| Total | 348 | 66217 |
Beside the regular activity of the Orionids and the Taurids in the second half of this month, we could collect data from the October Camelopardalids (OCT(#281) in the evening hours of October 5. Figure 2 shows a sudden decrease in activity of this meteoroid stream after 22h UT.
With the help of data of stations more to the east in Europe obtained by GMN, it seems that this stream didn’t show much activity before 17h UT. So, we could see meteors from this shower only for a few hours this year.
Interesting to see what results we can obtain for this stream next year, although maximum activity will coincidence with a Full Moon then.
Figure 2 – CAMS-BeNeLux data 5–6 October 2024, 18h–22h UT (Bottom) and for 5–6 October 2024 22h–06h UT (Top).
Conclusion
Results for October 2024 were the best scores ever for this month by CAMS-BeNeLux.
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 October 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), Steve Carter (Welwyn Garden City, England, RMS 3706), Eduardo Fernandez del Peloso (Ludwigshafen, Germany, RMS 3805), Pierre de Ponthiere (Lesve, Belgium, RMS 3816 and 3826), Bart Dessoy (Zoersel, Belgium, Watec 805 and 806), Jürgen Dörr (Wiesbaden, Germany, RMS 3810, 3811 and 3812), Isabelle Ansseau, Jean-Paul Dumoulin, Dominique Guiot and Christian Wanlin (Grapfontaine, Belgium, Watec 814, 815, RMS 3817, 3843, 3844 and 3845), Miles Eddowes (Reading, England, RMS 3709), 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, 3163, 3164, 3165 and 3166), Robert Haas (Burlage, Germany, RMS 3803 and 3804), Kees Habraken (Kattendijke, Netherlands, RMS 3780, 3781, 3782 and 3783), Erwin Harkink (Elst, Netherlands, RMS 3191), Nick James (Chelmsford, England, RMS 3710), 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, RMS 3909), Alan Maunder (Catherington, England, RMS 3707-3708), Horst Meyerdierks (Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany, RMS 3807), Koen Miskotte (Ermelo, Netherlands, Watec 3051, 3052, 3053 and 3054), Jamie Olver (Redhill, England, RMS 3705), Pierre-Yves Péchart (Hagnicourt, France, RMS 3902, 3903, 3904, 3905, 3906 and 3908), Holger Pedersen (Otterup, Denmark, RMS 3501), Tim Polfliet (Gent, Belgium, Watec 396, RMS 3820 and 3840, Steve Rau (Oostende, Belgium, RMS 3822), Paul and Adriana Roggemans (Mechelen, Belgium, RMS 3830, Watec 3832, 3833, 3834, 3835, 3836 and 3837), Jim Rowe (Eastbourne, England, RMS 3703), Nick Russell (Seaford, England, RMS 3704), 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 3190 and 3196), Rob Smeenk (Kalenberg, Netherlands, RMS 3192, 3193, 3194 and 3195), Erwin van Ballegoij (Heesh, Netherlands Watec 3148 and 3149, RMS 3189), Andy Washington (Clapton, England, RMS 3702).
