Looking at exoplanets in more detail - European Space Agency's CHEOPS (satellite, moon)

[Universe93B]

There are 4000 exoplanets discovered, but have to find out what these place are made of. Looks like the European Space Agency's Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS) was launched this week. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is already out there.

I didn't hear much about the launch or excitement for CHEOPS or was that just me not looking? A Space Facebook group alert got me looking into it. CHEOPS telescope is 3x the width of TESS. I believe TESS is a survey telescope and CHEOPS is a follow-up telescope for single planets?

Wondering about the list of exoplanets that are first on the list!

European exoplanet mission will scrutinize known worlds
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019...e-known-worlds

[rjshae]

CHEOPS is a more accurate occultation telescope so it'll give us better data on the planetary radii, but their composition can only be inferred. I'm hoping it will be able to spot some moons as well, which will be very useful information. The proposed New Worlds Mission should allow direct observation of the actual planets once the JWST is deployed.