why are most of the planets orbiting other sun-like stars seen so far are gas giants rather then terrestrial?

Question

What’s the most probable reason why most of the planets orbiting other sun-like stars seen so far are Jupiter-like “gas giants” rather than Earth-like “terrestrial” planets

Answer 1

Our detection threshold. I don't think any of the current planet detection schemes are currently able to detect something small and rocky.

Answer 2

The sensitivity of our techniques only allow for us to detect larger planets that have a more significant impact on the orbit of their star. This does not require however that the planet be a gas giant, it could just as easily be terrestrial, but at that size gas planets are much much more common and we've only seen a small chunk of the number of planets out there.

Answer 3

No, since gas giants are less dense than terrestrial planets, they are found farther away from the star. Think of it this way, when the solar system was created the dense material "floated" closer to the star. This is because objects of greater density have more gravity pulling them together. A planet in front of mars would have to be a terrestrial planet. It can either be bigger like Earth or smaller like Venus or Mercury.

Answer 4

Because gas giants are far more massive than terrestrial planets and are therefore "easier" to detect using current methods (e.g. the doppler "wobble" effect on a parent star).

There are a number of special telescopes being planned (such as Darwin and the Terrestrial Planet Finder) that are geared towards finding Earth-sized planets.

Answer 5

Planets are usually discovered by observing small disturbances in stars' movements caused by gravitational pull of planets. The bigger the planet, the easier the disturbance is to see. So gas giants, being the heaviest, are the easiest to find; Earth-like planets, in contrast, lack the mass. So Earth-like planets can only be found if their star is relatively close to the Sun. The only Earth-like planet found so far (581c, orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 581) is barely 20 light-years away, so the disturbances it caused to the movement of its sun were noticeable because of relatively close proximity.

Answer 6

Because gas giants are much larger than terrestrial planets, and so far we've only got the technology to detect very large, massive planets.

Answer 7

There are more than likely terrestrial-esque planets around the nearby stars but current technology makes it very difficult to find them. We can only find the big worlds at the moment but in a few years we will be able to find smaller earthlike worlds.

Answer 8

i doubt its the first reason although im no astronomer. but, id guess it's because the earth might have been a fluke, instead of the norm. i believe we will find other planets like our own and stable possibly with other life but again, that must've been a massive fluke too! here's hoping though.

Answer 9

cause of the gravity....and magnetic flux