I think it promotes understanding of the discovery, as well as future discoveries, actually. Those who don't know that our galaxy spans hundreds of thousands of

I think it promotes understanding of the discovery, as well as future discoveries, actually. Those who don't know that our galaxy spans hundreds of thousands of lightyears may not have a conception at all for how far away, and comparatively, how close, some objects are. It's clear we're talking about planets around other stars, and this is almost as close as it gets, so calling it 'nearby' is a pretty excellent description I think.