(meteorobs) Interesting facts about meteor showers

[LarryFarma at aol.com]

                When the earth encounters a swarm of meteoroids,  
i.e.,  a so-called "meteor shower,"     the meteoroids would enter the 
atmosphere at random locations and the meteor trails should 
therefore appear to start all over the sky,   not just in the 
vicinity of a single constellation ( as you  know,  showers 
are named for the constellations that the meteors appear to 
radiate from)        Meteor trails start about 50 miles up,   and 
ANY randomly located events occurring about 50 miles up 
are going to appear to an observer to be occurring 
all over the sky ---- there is nothing mysterious 
or deceptive about my reasoning here.    
  
           Meteoroids in a swarm,   when encountering the 
earth's gravity,    would not maintain their directions 
but would be deflected in differing directions by the earth's 
gravity,    with the result that the meteoroids would be 
coming from every which way,   and hence the meteor 
paths could not all be directed away from a central point.    This 
fact and the fact that the meteoroids would enter the 
atmosphere all over the sky  clearly show that the 
notion that so-called "meteor showers" ---  where the trails 
all appear to diverge from a small area of the sky --- are 
caused by swarms of meteoroids is ABSURD.

           Any alternative explanations as to what REALLY 
causes meteor showers ?

Larry Fafarman