There’s a rush of coverage today of the announcement of a fifth planet orbiting the star 55 Cancri, 41 light-years from Earth. Four other planets around this star had been previously known.

Now, extrasolar planets are cool. It’s sort of amazing to think how far astronomers have come over the past decade or so. The first planet orbiting a sunlike star (some had been found before, but around pulsars) was announced in 1995; since then, 263 other extrasolar planets have been reported, according to the definitive Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia.

But it’s not like any of these discoveries are unexpected. We know there are planets around other stars. We know we will continue to keep finding planets of smaller and smaller mass, in more and more Earthlike habitability zones, as astronomers keep raking in the data. So please, can the journalists keep the excitement in context?

The Guardian calls the new 55 Cancri planet “a hugely significant step towards finding a second Earth-like planet capable of harbouring extraterrestrial life.” The Houston Chronicle quotes planet-hunter Geoff Marcy as saying he’s “jumping out of his socks…The significance is marvelous, as we now know our sun and its family of planets are not unique.”

As Marcy knows better than almost anybody, we’ve known that for 12 years.