Scientists have calculated that Santa Claus needs to travel at incredible speeds to deliver presents to all the good children around the world on Christmas Eve.
To cover the vast distance of almost 144 million kilometers (89 million miles) in a single night, Santa would need to reach speeds of up to 5.1 million miles per hour (8.2 million kmph), or 0.8 percent of the speed of light.
This would allow him to fit his belly down narrow chimneys and deliver presents to every child without time for sleep, according to Dr. Laura Nicole Driessen, a radio astronomer from the University of Sydney.
However, at these speeds, strange effects occur, including why Rudolf’s famous red nose wouldn’t appear red at all. According to Dr. Driessen, due to the Doppler effect, Rudolf’s nose would be blueshifted to bright orange as he approaches and redshifted to a very dark red as he moves away.
At these speeds, even time itself becomes distorted, with objects near the speed of light aging slower while traveling. This means that Santa could potentially appear younger than his actual age during his journey.
Despite the incredible challenges of delivering presents in such a short amount of time, scientists believe it’s still possible for Santa to pull off an impressive feat on Christmas Eve.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14224457/Scientists-fast-Santa-travel-tonight.html