[MHGinTN]

I'm wondering about the implications for that 'famous' likelihood of life supporting planets in the universe equation ... Any idea of how many stars they've surveyed so far to come up with this first one that fits most closely to our own arrangement?... Out of the assumed number of stars in the universe, is the Drake equation going up or down in likelihoods?

[RightWhale]

how many stars they've surveyed so far

Their data is pretty good out to about 50 lightyears. Special circumstances let them see planetary systems farther out. There are about 101 known planetary systems found so far, and 20% or so have at least 2 known planets. They've just begun the search, 7 planets were identified last week. There will be a lot more, no doubt.