If one looks at planetary systems from the “modern” point of
view provided by the HARPS survey and the results from Kepler’s
recent data release, our own solar system looks pretty strange.
In the Sun’s case, the frequently planetiferous orbital zones
inside of P=50 days are completely, mysteriously barren. The
orbital region inside P<3000 days is also almost entirely
bereft, with just a few iron-silicate dregs totaling less than
two Earth masses. Out in the boondocks, however, the Sun’s
harbors a giant planet that managed to accumulate lots of gas,
yet paradoxically didn’t manage to migrate a really significant
distance. It will take more time to determine whether the solar
system is really all that weird, but with each passing month’s
accumulation of fresh exoplanets, our eight-planet set-up
manages to seem slightly less ordinary. Jupiter, for example,
induces a 12 m/s velocity half-amplitude, and the high-precision
radial velocity surveys have been operating for long enough so
that if true-Jupiter analogs w