why does the moon look orange tonight

The Moon looks orange tonight primarily because it is low on the horizon. When the Moon’s light passes through a thicker layer of Earth's atmosphere near the horizon, the atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths of light, like blue and violet, more than the longer wavelengths such as red and orange. This scattering effect causes the Moon to appear orange or reddish to observers on Earth. Additional factors like dust, pollution, smoke, or haze in the atmosphere can enhance this effect by further scattering blue light and allowing more red and orange wavelengths to reach the eyes, deepening the coloration. This is similar to why the Sun appears orange or red during sunrise and sunset when it is also low in the sky and its light travels through more atmosphere. The actual color of the Moon does not change; it only appears orange to observers due to atmospheric filtering of light as it reaches Earth.