Not quite so any longer.
We CAN and have detected Js out to far beyond Mars' orbit now. We've been looking long enough. Guess what? There are very, very few Js in nice circular orbits far from the primary. The vast majority of the ones further out are in wild planet scattering elliptical orbits. What this tells us, if we're open to the data, is that typically solar systems tend to form Js which in the majority of cases migrate inward destroying any Earth type planets. Some few are left in elliptical orbits which also are death to Earthlike planets. A tiny percentage MAY (yet to be proven) have stable solar systems with Jovians further out. So the right way to look at the data withour preconceived bias is that there is as yet paltry evidence that our Earthlike world is not a statistical freak.
Space/Science » in reply to Re: Rare Earths
Re: Rare Earths