How do you get to the North Pole?

I am getting a lot of questions about the North Pole lately.  “Where is the North Pole?  Does the snow melt there?  Does Frosty live there with Santa?” My favorite question to date is “How do you get to the North Pole?”  because I thought I knew the answer and could show her with science!

We went out in the backyard and pulled out her handy-dandy Chic Filet compass.  We turned North and I told her that we would just head due North and we would get to the North Pole!

But I had a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t right. So of course I googled “How to find the North Pole” and found an article on HowStuffWorks here.  Turns out, if I head due north using a compass we would not end up at Santa’s workshop!  We would end up at earth’s magnetic north located in the Canadian Artic!

Well, how would we get to the North Pole? 

There are many ways to find true North like using the sun, looking at moss, or watching the snow melt.  But the easiest, of course, is use a GPS (Global Positioning System).  GPS uses multiple satellites that pinpoint where the earth spins on it’s axis – the North Pole.

Now we’ve found the North Pole.. How do we know where Santa is on Christmas Eve?

Now what else do those amazing satellites do around Christmas?  The wonderful people at NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) use satellites to track Santa journey around the globe!  Here is a summary of how they use satellites:

“…satellites are located in a geo-synchronous orbit (that’s a cool phrase meaning that the satellite is always fixed over the same spot on the Earth) at 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can see heat. When a rocket or missile is launched, a tremendous amount of heat is produced – enough for the satellites to see them. Rudolph’s nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. The satellites detect Rudolph’s bright red nose with no problem.”

How amazing is that?  You can track Santa at the NORAD website here.

Will you and the kids be tracking Santa on Christmas Eve? We will!

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