asked about solar systems

Jumped into, via Facebook, the Ask Me Anything session with Dr Seager. Intense, the chat window was non-stop! I tried to ask a question about exoplanet systems but it was lost in the noise.

She was kind enough to take it later, privately. Perks!

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SS: I couldn't answer all of the questions on line as they scrolled by rapidly.

BN: Thanks. Yeah, crazy fast! It seems that a lot of exoplanet discoveries have highlighted extreme differences structurally when compared to our solar system. Does the alleged Planet 9 mean that our system is maybe more like these exoplanet systems?

SS: Great question. The answer is "possibly." We have seen planets very far from the star, even as far as we think planet 9 is. However, the planets far from the star are more like Jupiters than like Neptunes. And, we can't see the inner solar system for those cases. It's like the blind people and the elephant.

BN: Right, there's probably lots of little planets out there...