OP was correct about the news stories that would come out.
An awfully lot of coincidences otherwise.

Headlines..

Solar Eclipse over the USA
Jan. 27, 2012
A "ring of fire" solar eclipse is coming to the USA this spring. It's the first annular eclipse visible from the contiguous United States in almost 18 years.

Comet Corpses in the Solar Wind
Jan. 20, 2012
A paper published in today's issue of Science raises an intriguing new possibility--the presence of abundant comet corpses in the solar wind. The new research is based on dramatic images of a comet disintegrating in the sun's atmosphere last July.

What Happened to all the Snow?
Jan. 19, 2012
Winter seems to be on hold this year in some parts of the United States. Snowfall has been scarce in places that were overwhelmed with the white stuff at the same time last year. In this story from Science@NASA, JPL climatologist Bill Patzert explains what's going on.

Re-thinking an Alien World
Ja
A distant super-Earth named "55 Cancri e" is wetter and weirder than astronomers thought possible. The discovery has researchers re-thinking the nature of alien worlds.

Some Comets like it Hot
Jan. 12, 2012
Astronomers are still scratching their heads over Comet Lovejoy, which plunged through the atmosphere of the sun in December and, against all odds, survived. The comet is now receding into the outer solar system leaving many mysteries behind.

Kepler Discovers a Tiny Solar System
Jan. 11, 2012
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the tiniest solar system so far, composed of a red dwarf star with three rocky planets smaller than Earth.

[link to science.nasa.gov]