<p>What is the temperature under the surface of Mercury?  I know at the surface the temperature varies greatly (-297 F to 801 F).  I also realize that the answer would likely depend on depth.  Do we know the temperature at any depth, except the surface?  I also realize the temperature may vary based on latitude.  I am mainly looking to see if there might be an ideal location / depth for a colony on Mercury for my game Planetary Settlers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-05T13:23:08.180Z
@Kozaky - Mainly just the crust (e.g. anywhere from a few feet to a few miles, wherever the temperature should be mostly stable).
Jonathan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-05T18:42:46.170Z
There's evidence that Mercury has a molten iron-sulfur core.  It has a stable magnetic field about 1% the strength of earth's, probably from a dynamo connected to a molten core.  The core itself could only remain molten from the tidal forces of the sun. I've not found a proposed temperature for that core, but if you had one you could in principle model temperatures at a given depth by assuming an approximately linear relation to achieve thermal equilibrium.  The accuracy of that, or any other model, might be hard to quantify.
zibadawa timmy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-05T19:44:35.360Z
Deeper will generally mean a more stable temperature. Based on Earth experience (caves, mines) I expect a mile deep would be plenty to find near-constant temperature. Somewhere near the poles, you might even find a tolerable temperature. This paper [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00110923] describes an effort to get detailed data.
Bit Chaser
<temperature><mercury><heat>
What is the temperature under the surface of Mercury?
Jonathan
# What is the temperature under the surface of Mercury?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-04)

What is the temperature under the surface of Mercury? I know at the surface the temperature varies greatly (-297 F to 801 F). I also realize that the answer would likely depend on depth. Do we know the temperature at any depth, except the surface? I also realize the temperature may vary based on latitude. I am mainly looking to see if there might be an ideal location / depth for a colony on Mercury for my game Planetary Settlers.

**Tags:** temperature, mercury, heat

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @Kozaky - Mainly just the crust (e.g. anywhere from a few feet to a few miles, wherever the temperature should be mostly stable).  
> **username_1**: There's evidence that Mercury has a molten iron-sulfur core.  It has a stable magnetic field about 1% the strength of earth's, probably from a dynamo connected to a molten core.  The core itself could only remain molten from the tidal forces of the sun. I've not found a proposed temperature for that core, but if you had one you could in principle model temperatures at a given depth by assuming an approximately linear relation to achieve thermal equilibrium.  The accuracy of that, or any other model, might be hard to quantify.  
> **username_2**: Deeper will generally mean a more stable temperature. Based on Earth experience (caves, mines) I expect a mile deep would be plenty to find near-constant temperature. Somewhere near the poles, you might even find a tolerable temperature. This paper [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00110923] describes an effort to get detailed data.  

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