Mike Williams wrote in message ...
Wasn't it bjorn2004 who wrote:
The extrasolar planets found thus far are much closer to their star
than are the gas giants in our Solar system.

You'd expect the average orbital distance to grow if exactly the same
observation technique continued to be used in the same way. However, new
teams keep starting up with more sensitive equipment which detect more
planets but only those that complete at least one orbit since the
observation started.

Good answer! I suppose I've got more to learn about exoplanet
research. Exoplanet hunting with gravitational lensing, wow...

But wouldn't more precise observations make it possible for us to
observe smaller planets further away from their stars, than
previously, and so imply that an ever higher fraction of Jupiter-like
planets will be found?

And what about the DIST = (RANK/200)^2 formula [where RANK is the
ranking of each exoplanets on the "close to its star"-scale, and DIST
is the semi-major axis]? Is that just a coincidence or my
misinterpretation, or are there reasons to believe that exoplanets
generally are much closer to their stars than what "our" gas giants
are? I would guess that the methods of observations would help explain
this. For instance, that there's a strong connection between distance,
periodicity and easiness of observation, and hence a severe bias in
the early sample which we have today.

I'll certainly look at your links and try to compile data on discovery
dates in order to see what actual developments there have been over
time.

Best regards!