why does the moon look orange

The moon appears orange mainly because of the Earth's atmosphere filtering its light. When the moon is near the horizon, its light has to pass through a larger thickness of the atmosphere compared to when it is overhead. The atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths of light such as blue and violet more than longer wavelengths like orange and red. As a result, the blue light is scattered away, and the orange and red wavelengths dominate the light that reaches the observer’s eyes, making the moon look orange. This effect is similar to why the sun appears orange or red at sunrise and sunset. Other factors such as dust, smoke from wildfires, or pollution in the atmosphere can also enhance this filtering effect, making the moon look orange even when it is not close to the horizon. Additionally, during a lunar eclipse, the moon can appear red or orange because sunlight passing through Earth's atmosphere is refracted onto the moon, with shorter blue wavelengths scattered out, similar to the horizon effect. In summary, the orange color of the moon is due to the scattering of light by Earth's atmosphere, which filters out shorter wavelengths, leaving the longer orange and red wavelengths to be seen.