You can see stuff like this just about everyday somewhere on earth.
Remember there’s less than a 3% chance of fragments hitting land.
As far as this 2029 crap, don’t give it a moments notice.
No one can see an object that small with the largest telescope.
In fact we can barely see stars.
All we ever see is a dot.
The Bigger the telescope the bigger the dot.....
No, ya can’t. That’s why it’s news.
The Apophis will get a nudge from Earth on the 2029 pass, which will help figure out the next few encounters.
And as you noted, pretty large objects are pretty easy to miss seeing, which is why the next big kaboom is likely to be a surprise.