Prof’s solar studies published in Nature

NASA’s aging Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the edge of the solar system, where it has encountered a massive shock wave, according to a paper published in Nature by a team of scientists that includes retired KU Professor Thomas Armstrong.

More than 8 billion miles from Earth, the farthest an operating spacecraft has ever journeyed, Voyager 1 is giving scientists data from a fascinating yet little-understood region of space—the frontier where the sun’s influence begins to wane and the tenuous vastness of interstellar space takes over.

It is here that charged particles streaming out from the sun—called the solar wind—bump into the ionized gas and dust that is spread thinly between stars, causing a shock wave in the process.

Data of how the solar wind behaves will give scientists knowledge useful not only to astronomy but to terrestrial concerns such as how solar emissions affect wireless telephone calls, satellite communications and electric power grids.

Nurses receive Heart of Healthcare award

The 13th annual Nursing: The Heart of Healthcare Awards banquet honored 10 registered nurses Nov. 7 at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

More than 500 people attended the event, which recognizes outstanding registered nurses in Kansas and the Kansas City area. This year’s award winners from more than 300 nominations were:

Rita Barker, Hays Medical Center; Beth Clark, University of Kansas Hospital; Jan Ioerge, Wamego City Hospital; Karen Kopischke, Overland Park Regional Medical Center; Tess Laoruangroch, Research Medical Center; Lisa Sackuvich, ARJ Infusion Services Inc., Overland Park; Teresa Sikes, Lawrence Memorial Hospital; Britny Sutulovich, NorthCare Hospice, North Kansas City, Mo.; Ginger Tubach, St. Francis Health Center, Topeka; and Jenny West, University of Kansas Hospital.