The Apophis encounter in 2029: a rare opportunity for planetary science and defense - EurekAlert!

The age of exoplanet science took shape with the Kepler mission, and gained more momentum with the TESS mission. The initial goal had a simple definition: use the transit method to find planets orbiting other stars. Beyond that, scientists have worked hard and used multiple tools at their disposal to determine exoplanet compositions and other characterstics. Now exoplanet science is advancing beyond these initial stages. Planetary scientists want to understand not only the wide diversity in the exoplanet population; they also want to understand the different types of solar systems they're detecting.