Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder

Christian Bethge

Research Interests

  • Instrument design and development for the solar chromosphere, transition region, and corona
  • Solar image processing
  • Data calibration, analysis, pipelining, and dissemination
  • Machine learning

Current Research

I am currently working as a Research Scientist at NCEI on the calibration, validation, product development, stewardship, and research of solar imaging data in the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) onboard the GOES-R series of satellites. I enjoy coding, instrument design and development, analyzing data, improving data products, facilitating data access and visualization, and learning new research techniques such as Machine Learning. 

Prior to joining CIRES, I worked at Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in Huntsville, Alabama as a contractor for NASA Marshall Space Flight Center on data analysis and calibration from Solar Sounding Rockets. 

I also worked at the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics in Freiburg, Germany, at the Centre for Advanced Solar Spectro-polarimetric Data Analysis (CASSDA) on the calibration, visualization, and dissemination of spectro-polarimetric data from ground-based solar telescopes, as well as at the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado. At HAO, I worked on instrument development for the Chromosphere and Prominence Magnetometer (ChroMag), and on analysis and research with data from the the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) instrument.



Honors and Awards

  • CIRES Administrator's Group Award for GOES-R, 2020
  • NASA/MSFC Group Achievement Honor Award, received by the CLASP2 Team

View Publications

  • Song D; Ishikawa R; Kano R; McKenzie DE; Bueno JT; Auchere F; Rachmeler LA; Okamoto TJ; Yoshida M; Kobayashi K. (Oct 2022). Polarization Accuracy Verification of the Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter. Solar Physics: a journal for solar and solar-stellar research and the study of solar terrestrial physics , 297(10). 10.1007/s11207-022-02064-8
  • Rachmeler LA; Trujillo Bueno J; McKenzie DE; Ishikawa R; Auchere F; Kobayashi K; Kano R; Okamoto TJ; Bethge CW; Song D. (Sep 2022). Quiet Sun Center to Limb Variation of the Linear Polarization Observed by CLASP2 Across the Mg ii h and k Lines. The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics , 936(1). 10.3847/1538-4357/ac83b8
  • Darnel JM; Seaton DB; Bethge C; Rachmeler L; Jarvis A; Hill SM; Peck CL; Hughes JM; Shapiro J; Riley A. (Mar 2022). The GOES‐R Solar UltraViolet Imager. Space Weather. 10.1029/2022sw003044
  • Ishikawa R; Trujillo Bueno J; del Pino Aleman T; Okamoto TJ; McKenzie DE; Auchere F; Kano R; Song D; Yoshida M; Rachmeler LA. (Feb 2021). Mapping solar magnetic fields from the photosphere to the base of the corona. Science Advances , 7(8). 10.1126/sciadv.abe8406
  • Athiray PS; Winebarger AR; Champey P; Kobayashi K; Vigil GD; Haight H; Johnson S; Bethge C; Rachmeler LA; Savage S. (Dec 2020). Calibration of the MaGIXS Experiment. I. Calibration of the X-Ray Source at the X-Ray and Cryogenic Facility. The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics , 905(1). 10.3847/1538-4357/abc268
  • Yang Z; Bethge C; Tian H; Tomczyk S; Morton R; Del Zanna G; McIntosh SW; Karak BB; Gibson S; Samanta T. (Aug 2020). Global maps of the magnetic field in the solar corona. Science , 369(6504), 694-+. 10.1126/science.abb4462
  • Winebarger AR; Weber M; Bethge C; Downs C; Golub L; DeLuca E; Savage S; del Zanna G; Samra J; Madsen C. (Sep 2019). Unfolding Overlapped Slitless Imaging Spectrometer Data for Extended Sources. The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics , 882(1). 10.3847/1538-4357/ab21db
  • Schmit D; Sukhorukov AV; De Pontieu B; Leenaarts J; Bethge C; Winebarger A; Auchere F; Bando T; Ishikawa R; Kano R. (Oct 2017). Comparison of Solar Fine Structure Observed Simultaneously in Ly alpha and MgII h. The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics , 847(2). 10.3847/1538-4357/aa890b
  • Franz M; Collados M; Bethge C; Schlichenmaier R; Borrero JM; Schmidt W; Lagg A; Solanki SK; Berkefeld T; Kiess C. (Dec 2016). Magnetic fields of opposite polarity in sunspot penumbrae. Astronomy and Astrophysics: a European journal , 596. 10.1051/0004-6361/201628407
  • Liu J; McIntosh SW; De Moortel I; Threlfall J; Bethge C. (Dec 2014). STATISTICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF ALFVENIC TURBULENCE IN SOLAR CORONAL LOOPS. The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics , 797(1). 10.1088/0004-637X/797/1/7
  • Rachmeler, LA, SJ Platten, C Bethge, DB Seaton and AR Yeates. (May 2014). OBSERVATIONS OF A HYBRID DOUBLE-STREAMER/PSEUDOSTREAMER IN THE SOLAR CORONA. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS , 787(1). 10.1088/2041-8205/787/1/L3
  • De Moortel I; McIntosh SW; Threlfall J; Bethge C; Liu J. (Feb 2014). POTENTIAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ONSET OF ALFVENIC TURBULENCE IN TRANS-EQUATORIAL CORONAL LOOPS. Letters of the Astrophysical Journal , 782(2). 10.1088/2041-8205/782/2/L34
  • Tian H; Tomczyk S; McIntosh SW; Bethge C; de Toma G; Gibson S. (Dec 2013). Observations of Coronal Mass Ejections with the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter. Solar Physics: a journal for solar and solar-stellar research and the study of solar terrestrial physics , 288(2), 637-650. 10.1007/s11207-013-0317-5
  • Threlfall J; De Moortel I; McIntosh SW; Bethge C. (Aug 2013). First comparison of wave observations from CoMP and AIA/SDO. Astronomy and Astrophysics: a European journal , 556. 10.1051/0004-6361/201321782
  • Bak-Steslicka U; Gibson SE; Fan Y; Bethge C; Forland B; Rachmeler LA. (Jun 2013). THE MAGNETIC STRUCTURE OF SOLAR PROMINENCE CAVITIES: NEW OBSERVATIONAL SIGNATURE REVEALED BY CORONAL MAGNETOMETRY. Letters of the Astrophysical Journal , 770(2). 10.1088/2041-8205/770/2/L28
  • Bethge C; Beck C; Peter H; Lagg A. (Jan 2012). Siphon flow in a cool magnetic loop. Astronomy and Astrophysics: a European journal , 537. 10.1051/0004-6361/201118333
  • Bethge C; Peter H; Kentischer TJ; Halbgewachs C; Elmore DF; Beck C. (Oct 2011). The Chromospheric Telescope. Astronomy and Astrophysics: a European journal , 534. 10.1051/0004-6361/201117456