I was surprised to hear that Antarctica is prime hunting ground for meteorite debris. I wouldn’t expect them to be found there for the same reason bugs hit a car’s windshield a lot more than they hit the side windows.
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I was aalways under the impression that there is no real front in space. That is a human construct to make sense of it. So there would be as many meteorites coming towards that side of the world as any other.
You're right about the distribution of space junk as being random but don't forget we are moving through that cloud of junk at substantial speed.
Einstein called these thought experiments but really, anyone can do them.
Picture yourself high above the north pole looking down on the earth from a vantage point at a right angle to the plane of the earths orbit. The earth is traveling an orbital path with a radius of 93 million miles which is nearly circular. The circumference of that path is a bit over 584 million miles and the travel time is 365.25 x 24 hour days. The tangential speed of the orbiting earth is therefore the circumference divided by the orbital period which is about 66,700 miles per hour. Looking down at the earth from "above" the plane of the ecliptic, the hemisphere facing into the direction of travel is moving "forward" into the path of space junk moving through our orbital path and overtaking that moving junk at 66,700 mph. Conversely, the trailing hemisphere (looking back along our orbital path) is moving away from any space junk crossing our path which would have to catch up with us in order to score a hit.
Did you ever notice when the weatherman says there is going to be a meteor shower tonight they always tell you that best viewing is from midnight till dawn? Ever wonder why?
Go back to our "observation point" and look down again. Note the two hemispheres facing forward and trailing are both half in sun light and half in darkness. Noon is facing directly in toward the sun, midnight is facing directly outward from the sun. Look down very closely at midnight, do you see the little guy waving his right hand at you? Since he is looking at you he is looking North. His right hand is pointing east on the globe since that is where the sun rises, his left hand is pointing west toward sunset (we are rotating on axis CCW or widdershins if you like). So from sunset to midnight the earth is moving away from any meteors passing our orbit. From midnight to dawn we are chasing after them at 66,700 mph and sweeping up a lot more then catch us from behind.
Most of the stuff orbiting the sun stays confined to the plane of the ecliptic which is the remnant of the dust cloud that collapsed/condensed into the solar system. Comets and some of the stuff from way out there occasionally comes looping in at strange angles and that, no doubt, will be the one we will wind up hitting (OMG! ITEOTWAWKI! and I feel fine...)
I hope that clears it up a bit, you're right, you do need a frame of reference to make sense of it. I like the windshield concept 'cuz it's easy to visualize bugs hitting you (or you hitting bugs, macht nichts) while moving forward. It's also hard to picture a bug moving fast enough to hit the back window. If this seems hard to visualize, think of what it must have been like for those shepherds watching their flocks by night?
Regards,
GtG
PS That little guy waving up at you?
That was me...
G