<p>Not in general, but sometimes there is a dominant direction.
When the Earth passes through a stream of debris from a comet or asteroid,
a
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower" rel="nofollow">meteor shower</a>
occurs, and those meteors appear to come from a point in the sky called the radiant.
Since the parent bodies have different orbits, different shower radiants appear in different parts of the sky.
For example, the Geminid radiant culminates earlier in the night than most, and the Perseid radiant is well north of the Ecliptic.
As the Earth can encounter meteors from any direction at any time, there are usually a few sporadic meteors unrelated to any active radiant.
Meteor observers have identified some
<a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/random-meteors-arent-random02112015/" rel="nofollow">not quite random</a>
directions for these.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-18T10:54:16.467Z
thanks for that incredibly interesting link, MikeG - good one
Fattie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-17T21:05:27.553Z
2016-10-17T21:05:27.553Z
Mike G
<p>Do meteors always streak in the same direction? While I know it's not likely to be exactly the same direction, but generally speaking. Would one say meteors always travel, for example, east to west?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-17T21:47:26.950Z
Related: http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1866/do-meteorites-streak-across-the-sky-in-the-same-direction
Mike G
<amateur-observing><meteor>
Direction of Meteors
Joe
# Direction of Meteors

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-17)

Do meteors always streak in the same direction? While I know it's not likely to be exactly the same direction, but generally speaking. Would one say meteors always travel, for example, east to west?

**Tags:** amateur-observing, meteor
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1866/do-meteorites-streak-across-the-sky-in-the-same-direction  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-10-17. Score: 3

Not in general, but sometimes there is a dominant direction.
When the Earth passes through a stream of debris from a comet or asteroid,
a
[meteor shower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower)
occurs, and those meteors appear to come from a point in the sky called the radiant.
Since the parent bodies have different orbits, different shower radiants appear in different parts of the sky.
For example, the Geminid radiant culminates earlier in the night than most, and the Perseid radiant is well north of the Ecliptic.
As the Earth can encounter meteors from any direction at any time, there are usually a few sporadic meteors unrelated to any active radiant.
Meteor observers have identified some
[not quite random](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/random-meteors-arent-random02112015/)
directions for these.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: thanks for that incredibly interesting link, MikeG - good one  

---

