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Father Christmas is doing some test runs - FlightRadar's Santa Tracker (and other trackers)

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JoBrodie · 23/12/2025 23:44

[Festive whimsy alert]

FlightRadar24 is 'tracking' Father Christmas' test flight before tomorrow evening's main event - you can watch along here
https://www.flightradar24.com/R3DN053/3d9fb50a and explanatory blog post https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/santa-tracker/ ("Santa’s sleigh is an unique 9-engine Rangifer tarandus* registered HOHOHO...").

There's also the NORAD Santa Tracker https://www.noradsanta.org/en/ and one from Google https://santatracker.google.com/ and there are phone app versions too. I think those start tracking on Christmas Eve though.

For early risers on Christmas Day it may be possible to see the International Space Station as it flies overhead. But only if it's not cloudy. Visit this website https://www.astroviewer.net/iss/en/observation.php and type in your city. It will then tell you at what time there is a potentially visible flypast of the International Space Station (ISS), and where to look. It looks like a small dot of light moving quite quickly and is visible with the naked eye. There are seven astronauts on board, or one Father Christmas on a sleigh and several reindeer if you're watching with small children.

For London (where I live) the timings for Christmas Day are that it's visible from about 6.17 to 6.22am and will be at its brightest (and highest in the sky at 6.19am). It will come from the West and head East South East. You probably have a compass on your phone (might need to calibrate it if you don't use it regularly) or open Google maps or any map and the layout is that North is at the top of the page.

Jo ho ho :)

*scientific name for reindeer

OP posts:
TooBigForMyBoots · 24/12/2025 03:47

Thanks for this @JoBrodie.

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