Google put up an interactive doodle on its homepage to celebrate the June 15 midnight lunar eclipse – the longest and darkest eclipse of the century – where one of its O’s was replaced by an almost live image of the moon. It’s notable that it was Google’s first ‘live doodle’ as the image refreshed after every two minutes reflecting the latest state of the eclipse. The doodle scroller later enabled users to view the various phases of the eclipse. Google also presented the webcast of the historic event on its official YouTube channel as well.
Earlier, Google said on its blog that it had collaborated with Slooh Space Camera to present the spectacle in real time worldwide. It further said that Slooh would be hosting a live mission interface using Google App Engine to help users to enjoy the “rare astronomical event”. “Starting now, see the latest state of the lunar eclipse on our homepage – thanks @slooh for the imagery,” Google tweeted.
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Over the years, Google has been frequently swapping its logo for a doodle. The artistic take on Google logo is highly popular across the world and that the growing popularity has prompted the search engine giant to come up with more innovative doodle to commemorate several international events ranging from birthdays to important dates in history.
Of late, Google has been putting up doodle tailored for the local markets too. Doing away with the static images, Google’s new doodles have been more interactive and animated in nature. It recently altered its logo to honor Les Paul over his contributions to the music world. The logo resembling an electronic guitar allowed users to play tunes using the keystrokes.