Seeing a meteor heading directly towards you is extremely rare. Meteors, commonly referred to as shooting stars, are fragments of cometary or asteroid material that enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, creating bright streaks in the sky as they burn up. Due to the vastness of the sky and the angles at which meteors typically enter the atmosphere, the occurrence of one coming directly at an observer’s line of sight is quite uncommon.
Meteors usually burn up at altitudes of 80 to 120 kilometers and are very small, ranging from the size of grains of sand to small pebbles. The perspective of seeing them head-on is mostly an optical trick due to the motion and speed at which they travel. Thousands of meteors enter the atmosphere daily, but only a few are bright enough and at the right angle to be visible to the naked eye. In instances of meteor showers, while numerous meteors can be observed, they radiate from a particular direction in the sky, making it more likely to see them from the side or as streaks across the sky rather than straight towards you.
Overall, the alignment of geographical location, meteor trajectory, and observer position required to witness such an event makes it an extraordinary experience.