Track Santa With NORAD and Google Earth

Track Santa With NORAD and Google Earth

by Caleb Johnson — Dec 22nd 2009 at 7:29AM

The stockings are hung with care, the tree is glowing bright, and Santa's list has been checked and re-checked. With two days until Christmas Eve, there's nothing left to do but let the anticipation build. One necessary part of that Christmas preparation is tracking Santa's flight path through the night sky.

There are several ways to track Santa this year, but if you're looking for experienced trackers, you can't beat the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) official Santa Tracker. The folks at NORAD have been tracking ol' St. Nick for more than 50 years, but they're not afraid of innovation. You can even follow Santa's flight path in 3-D using Google Earth. It really is a treat for kids (and adults, too) to watch Santa and his eight tiny reindeer zoom past digital versions of famous skylines -- from New York to Sydney, from Paris to Rome.

And while you're waiting for Santa to take flight, there are Christmas games, a tracker countdown, Santa FAQs, and breakdowns of NORAD's GPS tracking system all available on the site. Really, the only thing you can't do is plea to make Santa's nice list. Guess we're just out of luck this year. [From: The Official NORAD Santa Tracker]