Most extrasolar planets discovered so far are larger than Jupiter, superjovian. Most are very near their primary compared to Jupiter's position. In comparison, the solar system is an oddity, not like other star systems we know about.
But in 2006 NASA will launch the Kepler telescope which will scan the stars for earth sized planets. Our state of knowledge of actual planetary systems will improve.
Here are a couple of articles, both fairly current on Kepler and observed planetary systems.
Strange Object Found, Defying Ideas of Solar System Formation
But in 2006 NASA will launch the Kepler telescope which will scan the stars for earth sized planets. Our state of knowledge of actual planetary systems will improve.
Exactly. Which is why I doubt our solar system is nearly such an oddity as the preliminary data suggest. Kepler sounds like it'll be an exciting mission!
For those of you who don't know, "superjovian" planets that are close to their stars are precisely the only kinds of planets that the original planet hunting techniques were able to detect. So of course those are the only types of planets we "knew" were out there! But now that the other technique - observing the star's light level drop slightly as the planet passes in front of it - is being perfected, a more accurate picture of other solar systems is slowly being filled in. Hopefully Kepler will give us a good statistical sampling of alien solar systems, & only then will we get an idea of just how unique our configuration is.