How does the duration of a meteor differ from the observable motion of a deep-space comet?

A meteor streaks in seconds, while a comet's shift is subtle over hours or days.

The primary differentiator between a meteor and a comet is speed and duration within the observer's field of view. A meteor, popularly called a shooting star, is caused by a small piece of debris entering Earth's atmosphere at high velocity, causing it to vaporize in a fleeting flash lasting only a matter of seconds. A comet, being a deep-space object on a large orbit around the Sun, moves incredibly slowly relative to the observer's timescale. While a comet is moving, its position shift against the fixed background stars is subtle over many hours or noticeable only when comparing observations across sequential nights, never appearing as a quick flash.