Track Santa's Route Across the World on Christmas Eve
The US government just love spying on people, but let's face it, without them we wouldn't have all those brilliant cold war thrillers to watch over the holidays.
Nobody is safe from the US government's prying eyes either as even Santa Claus is tracked each and every year by the Pentagon's North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). From this secret lair, buried deep within Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado they'll be tracking his movements as he races across the world tomorrow night, bringing presents for every good girl and boy.
It is conclusive proof of the existence of Santa Claus too, after all why wouldn't we believe the government of a country that told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!?
Don't believe anyone who tells you that he's not real as it's all a smokescreen invented by parents to get their children to go to sleep on Christmas eve. In the morning you can be certain the glass of milk will have been drunk by Prancer or Blitzen, and Santa himself would have eaten the mince pie you've left out for him.
But in a way to prove to boys and girls everywhere how real Santa is they make the live tracking information available each year on the NORAD website, so that you can see for yourself how fast he is at delivering presents around the globe.
In a statement on their website the US State Department detail the complicated technology used to track Santa Claus...
NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa – radar, satellites, Santa cams and fighter jets. Tracking Santa starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. On December 24th, NORAD monitors the radar systems continuously for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.
The moment that radar indicates Santa has lifted off, we use our second detection system. Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earth’s surface are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Amazingly, Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allows our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa.
The third tracking system is the Santa cam network. We began using it in 1998, which is the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the Internet. Santa cams are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year. The cameras capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.
The fourth system is made up of fighter jets. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15, F-16 or the F-22 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his famous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph.
With the Santa Tracker running live in your home you'll be able to see when he's getting close so that you'll know you need to tucked up safely in bed, all asleep because he won't visit if you're wide awake and waiting because like all midnight visitors to your home that doesn't have a legitimate key to the front door, he doesn't want to be seen or caught.
So try the Santa Tracker for yourself and you'll believe in the magic of Christmas :) Have a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year from everyone here at gHacks.
Advertisement
Also track him here dodging the planes on planefinder.net!
http://planefinder.net/flight/S4NTA1
Thanks for the info. Excellent site for help.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
‘Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!’
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!”