Abstract: A summary of the activity of the CAMS-BeNeLux network during the month of March 2024 is presented. This month was good for 7783 multi-station meteors resulting in 2462 orbits, compared to other years a good result for March.
Introduction
Meteor activity in March is now reaching the lowest level for northern latitudes. This month continued the weather pattern of the previous months with many partly clouded nights. Since the number of active cameras was higher compared to other years, the results could have been better.
March 2024 statistics
As already noted, the number of complete clear nights in this month was low. Yet there were only 2 nights (March 10–11 and March 29–30) in which we couldn’t collect any orbit at all.
That means that many nights had clear spells, but off course not necessary all over our regions. That reduces the chances for collecting multi-station meteors significantly.
More than 50% of all orbits were achieved in the first 10 days of March, when the weather for astronomical observations was better. After this first period, we could collect more than 100 orbits per night only on March 16–17, 27–28 and March 28–29.
Figure 1 – Comparing March 2024 to previous months of March 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.
CAMS-BeNeLux collected a total of 7783 muti-station meteors this month, resulting in 2462 orbits. The third best result for this month. 50,1% of all orbits were captured by more than 2 stations.
Meteors were captured on 56% of the active cameras during this month. Both numbers show that the unstable character of this month. On average 113 cameras were active during the nights this month. This number is much higher than last year.
Table 1 – Number of orbits and active cameras in CAMS-BeNeLux during the month of March in the period 2012–2024.
| Year | Nights | Orbits | Stations | Max. Cams | Min. Cams | Mean Cams |
| 2012 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 2 | – | 2.0 |
| 2013 | 10 | 69 | 6 | 7 | – | 4.2 |
| 2014 | 24 | 793 | 12 | 29 | – | 22.8 |
| 2015 | 23 | 1033 | 14 | 42 | – | 31.7 |
| 2016 | 23 | 856 | 16 | 51 | 12 | 38.2 |
| 2017 | 26 | 1048 | 19 | 55 | 20 | 44.4 |
| 2018 | 25 | 1280 | 22 | 91 | 53 | 73.5 |
| 2019 | 29 | 1215 | 20 | 78 | 54 | 64.4 |
| 2020 | 27 | 3026 | 25 | 93 | 66 | 81.7 |
| 2021 | 28 | 1998 | 27 | 91 | 59 | 78.9 |
| 2022 | 29 | 3189 | 24 | 79 | 58 | 70.6 |
| 2023 | 25 | 1328 | 37 | 103 | 80 | 95.0 |
| 2024 | 29 | 2462 | 45 | 123 | 100 | 113.0 |
| Total | 300 | 18309 |
Conclusion
The results for March 2024 were mainly achieved during the first 10 nights of this month.
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 March 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), 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).
