[mVChr]

Agreed! What I found most interesting about this article is that our own solar system seems fairly unique (I know, small sample size). Kepler 62 is the only one that has an Earth-like planet at about the same distance from the central star, and even in that case that particular planet is the outermost one in that system. I guess I always assumed that due to various physical laws that other star systems would be pretty similar to ours in regards to planet-types (hot-rocks vs middle-ground vs gas-giants vs coldies) at various orbits, but there seems to be much more at play here (star size, etc, etc). Truly fascinating.

[greeneggs]

You're not the only one; astronomers have also been surprised. But you have to keep in mind that our data right now is very incomplete. Kepler only operated for four years. You'd need a minimum of three years to detect a planet with a one-year-long orbit. (The first two years give two blinks when the planet crossed in front of the star, and then the third blink should be exactly a year later.) As they analyze the data in more detail, they'll probably find planets with longer-period orbits, but possibilities are limited.