What can exoplanets tell us about our Solar System?

Abstract

We update our analysis of recent exoplanet data that gives us a partial answer to the question: How does our Solar System compare to the other planetary systems in the Universe? Exoplanets detected between January and August 2002 strengthen the conclusion that Jupiter is a typical massive planet rather than an outlier. The trends in detected exoplanets do not rule out the hypothesis that our Solar System is typical. They support it.

4 pages, 2 figures, Conference proceedings: "Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets" held at the Carnegie Instituition, Washington DC June 18-21 2002. ASP Conf. Ser