I am updating slightly based on the reply which @ctsats got from the head of the HWC, Prof. Abel Méndez (https://twitter.com/ProfAbelMendez) (Impresive work Christos! Thank you for sharing!) Especially professor's guess of the number of planets added this year (as 5 to 10). We must however note that if my previous analysis is right (see my previous forecasts here) 7 exoplanets were added to the catalog this year (6 from 2023 and one from 2015), as I explained here, professor likely counted some of them as if they were added the previous year - otherwise he would say 7 to 10, right? So it is hard to interpret how many (if any) he already counted for this year, and our period of analysis is different, it doesn't include January this year, but in fact includes January 2025 (despite 31st of December 2024 being mentioned in the question title). Still, we have a full-year period that way and unless this high assessment from the professor if heavily based on the planets already added to the catalog this year before the question was published and not counting towards the resolution, this assessment is still useful information.
I am updating slightly based on the reply which @ctsats got from the head of the HWC, Prof. Abel Méndez (https://twitter.com/ProfAbelMendez) (Impresive work Christos! Thank you for sharing!) Especially professor's guess of the number of planets added this year (as 5 to 10). We must however note that if my previous analysis is right (see my previous forecasts here) 7 exoplanets were added to the catalog this year (6 from 2023 and one from 2015), as I explained here, professor likely counted some of them as if they were added the previous year - otherwise he would say 7 to 10, right? So it is hard to interpret how many (if any) he already counted for this year, and our period of analysis is different, it doesn't include January this year, but in fact includes January 2025 (despite 31st of December 2024 being mentioned in the question title). Still, we have a full-year period that way and unless this high assessment from the professor if heavily based on the planets already added to the catalog this year before the question was published and not counting towards the resolution, this assessment is still useful information.