Meteor showers: A few years ago there was one. I saw streaks coming from all directions. Why?

Question

I would think that as the earth passed through dust, all the streaks would come from one direction.

Answer 1

collisions

Answer 2

In a meteor shower most would come from one area of the sky (called the "radiant"). Most meteor showers are named for the constellation they appear to originate from.
But the meteors in the stream in space are not all moving in exactly the same direction (not like a train on tracks).
Within the stream there are collisions and perturbations of the material by gravitational influence of the moon and Earth, so some will seem to streak in all directions.
But the majority will appear to come from one section of the sky.

Answer 3

That's because the Earth probably wasn't passing through dust, it was probably a bunch or rocks from when a meteor hit an asteroid or some such. They would've been hurtling through space until they got trapped in the Earth's gravitational field, all sorts of things could've happened so that they were spread out when they hit.

Answer 4

It does come from one spot. Think or being in a snow storm in a car in the night. Even though the flakes are all coming it at the same direction, the flakes seem to come and go in all directions because of the angles involved.

Answer 5

They all do come from one direction. But because of perspective, they seem to radiate from one point in the sky. That is, they all seem to come from the same spot in the sky. It is like looking up in the rain and seeing raindrops falling. Some go right and some go left, but that is just perspective; they are all falling straight down. Tut the ones that fall a little to your right seem to move right as they fall and the ones that fall a little left of you seem to move left as they fall.