Comet or Meteor?
Saw this while traveling South on route 287 just north of Boonton today around 5pm. It was visible for about 15 minutes. Anybody know what it was. I checked the news for a meteor or comet but didn’t see anything.
Res2 Its not a comet, they are far away and would appear for days but not in the daylight and its not a meteor they are in the atmosphere and would “fly by” or burn up very quickly.
Roywhite If you saw it for 15 minutes I doubt it was a meteor.
They enter the atmosphere between about 25,000 and 160,000 MPH and burn up quickly.
Maybe just a plane with contrails at a strange angle (relative to your view point)?
Mark Mc. 
97XBAM Looks like a plane, to me. The picture doesn’t say much. Does Boonton have a forum, like this one? That’s where I’d check, if you’re still curious. I’ve seen a few big meteors, in my day. Like the other posters said, it’s only several seconds long. Not 15 minutes. If fact, I don’t think a plane would, either. I wonder what it was...*Twilght Zone theme song*
Guilty-Remnant Looks like the reflection of an object that caught the sun angle for a short period. Could have been an aircraft or even a low earth orbit satellite. The Internationsl Space Station is also occasionslly seen as a bright object in the sky.
plc 
Frank 1945 At night, that’s what a comet would look like. Maybe they’re visible during the day. I don’t think so, but I could be wrong.
GC 
Strangerdanger 
Reggie Voter Just remember, the ISS is in low earth orbit and it’s just a dot to us (not a large object with contrails). Also, satellites in low earth orbit travel around 17,000 MPH and orbit the earth in less than two hours. In 15 minutes, this object (if it were a satellite) would have been over South America, not hanging around Boonton waiting for a photograph.
Planes can appear to travel faster/slower as an optical illusion if you are moving too. Also, strong headwinds at altitude can significantly slow their ground speed by hundreds of MPH.
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