Saturday, December 24, 2016

Tracking Santa in Real Time


Rudolph the red nosed reindeer has a very shiny nose. In fact it is so shiny that it gives off an infrared signature so powerful that it can be detected from space.

Every Christmas NORAD's geo-synchronous satellites are able to detect the signature from Rudolph's nose and observe when Santa Claus leaves the North Pole. They then proceed to track his movements for 24 hours as Santa delivers presents to children around the world. You can follow Santa's movements today on the NORAD Santa Tracker.

You can also follow Santa's progress this Christmas Eve on Google's Santa Tracker. Google uses GPS (the Gnome Positioning System) to track Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. They then plot his movements around the world on a real-time Google Map.

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