Last Reviewed and Updated on June 21, 2022
You know the Sun is hot and you know the core of the Earth is extremely hot. But is the core of the Earth hotter than the Sun? Or is it the other way around? Does the answer depend on which part of the Sun we look at? We’ll explore the temperatures of both the sun and Earth’s core to see which one is hotter and if the answer is a simple yes or no.
Temperatures on the Sun
When you look at the Sun’s temperatures, they aren’t the same across all parts of the Sun. From the surface, the deeper you go, the higher the temperatures will be.
On the surface, the temperature of the sun is about 10.000° Fahrenheit / 5.500° Celsius.
If you go deeper, all the way to the Sun’s core the temperatures will reach 27 million ° Fahrenheit / 15 million ° Celsius.
Sun’s corona, the outmost region of the sun is 150 to 459 times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Also read: fun facts about the Sun
Temperatures of Earth’s core
A study published in 2013 puts the center of the Earth’s core temperature up to around 6,000 °C / 10,830 °F.
Also read: fun facts about the planet Earth
So, is the Core of the Earth Hotter Than the Sun?
The core of the Earth seems to be around the same temperature as the surface of the Sun, so it is currently impossible to say which is hotter, the Earth’s core or the Sun’s surface. The center of the core may be hotter, or it may not.
What we do know for certain is that the Earth’s core is not hotter than the center of the Sun or hotter than the Sun’s corona.
What you may find interesting is that as far as nature goes the core isn’t actually the hottest thing on Earth. Lightning reaches higher temperatures, so be sure to give our lightning vs sun temperatures comparison a read as well.