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DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW

How to track Santa on Google and NORAD- here’s where to find Father Christmas on December 24

How to track Santa

CHRISTMAS Eve is upon us- the busiest night of the year for Father Christmas, as he has to deliver gifts to all the good children around the world

Here, we explain how to track him as he treks the globe in less than 24 hours.

Read our Santa tracker live blog for all the latest updates as he sets off from the North Pole

 Santa Claus will travel an estimated 510,000,000 kilometres around the globe tonight
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Santa Claus will travel an estimated 510,000,000 kilometres around the globe tonight

How can you track Santa on Google?

Google has their own Smart Tracker so you can see where in the world Santa is on Christmas Eve.

Since 2004, Google Maps has made it possible to for children to follow Father Christmas from place to place as he delivers his gifts.

Today, kids watch Santa take flight from the Santa Village in the North Pole.

To follow Santa's mammoth journey -

 NORAD uses it's satellites to track Santa for the 24 hours over Christmas Eve
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NORAD uses it's satellites to track Santa for the 24 hours over Christmas Eve

How can you track Father Christmas on NORAD?

For those who want to keep up with his mammoth journey a  (North American Aerospace Defence Command) will ensure you stay in the picture.

Usually responsible for defending airspace, NORAD has been offering children and adults alike a way of keeping their eye on Santa's sleigh since 1955.

This is the Santa Google Tracker and right now it shows Santa is still in the North Pole
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This is the Santa Google Tracker and right now it shows Santa is still in the North Pole

These days, NORAD is able to provide users with an exact GPS location of Santa's position online, and is also available on the Apple, Android and Windows app stores.

More than 70,000 children from 200 countries will still phone the hotline for a personal update on Santa's whereabouts.

But they have to be fast to follow Father Christmas – he flies at around 1,800 miles a second, and visits 390,000 homes a minute.

 Since 1955, NORAD has been helping children (and adults) keep an eye on Father Christmas' mammoth journey
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Since 1955, NORAD has been helping children (and adults) keep an eye on Father Christmas' mammoth journey

The team say they use infrared radar, defence satellites and other surveillance equipment to follow him through the skies.

To follow Father Christmas around the world just go

How did NORAD tracking begin?

The tradition was allegedly started by accident, when a local advertisement inviting kids to call Santa Claus accidentally misprinted the number.

The number they called put them through to Norad's Commander-in-Chief's operations hotline.

Colonel Harry Shoup, who later became affectionately known as Santa Colonel, answered the first of these calls.

He gamely asked his staff to check if there was any indication of Father Christmas's movements on the radar.

"Thus, the tradition was born."

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