Hello John
Meteors normally burn up in the atmosphere completely. After all, they are most of the times not bigger than a grain of sand. The duration of a meteor sighting is in the order of seconds.
A meteorite is (much) bigger, and can just hit the atmosphere but miss earth itself. Doing so will heat it up so that you see it moving through the upper atmosphere. The duration of a "fly-by" meteorite sighting is in the order of (a) minute(s).
A comet highly reflects sunlight, and can be seen from far away, also while it is in our region of the solar system - but still far away from earth. Most of the time it has a long "tail" from escaping gasses, pushed away by the pressure of the solar wind. The duration of a comet sighting is in the order of weeks and months.
So from your original post I conclude that you have been one of those lucky persons who has seen a meteorite passing through our atmosphere.
Here is a link to wellknown meteorite (and meteor) sightings in 1999. Have a look there
The 2 last sightings refer to a meteorite that skimmed the atmosphere on February 2, 1999.