Chronicling the Previous and Next 20 Years of Exoplanet Observations

Technological advancements in the past two decades have led to a dramatic rise in the number of wide-field surveys which monitor large portions of the sky on a nightly basis. The first generation of time-series exoplanet surveys contributed to the discovery, cataloging, and study of a substantial number of unique and interesting exoplanets. The current and next generation of all-sky surveys, such as Gaia, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and the fifth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V), will enable accurate, empirical measurements of fundamental properties of hundreds of exoplanets with ultra-precise measurements of stellar parallax, nearly continuous measurements of photometric variability, and detailed chemical abundances. These observations will provide the opportunity to develop and test theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, with a precision previously possible only for planets in our own Solar System.