The Moon appears orange tonight mainly because of the way its light passes through Earth's atmosphere. When the Moon is low near the horizon, its light travels through a thicker layer of atmosphere, which scatters away the shorter blue wavelengths and allows the longer orange and red wavelengths to reach our eyes. This is the same reason sunsets and sunrises often appear orange or red. Additionally, particles in the atmosphere such as dust, smoke from wildfires, or pollution can enhance this effect by filtering out more blue light, making the Moon look even more orange. This phenomenon is related to Rayleigh scattering of light in the atmosphere.
If there is no lunar eclipse involved tonight, this orange color is due to the Moon's position near the horizon and atmospheric effects. If there were a lunar eclipse, the Moon can appear more red or orange as Earth's shadow falls on it, with longer wavelengths of light refracted through Earth's atmosphere illuminating the Moon.
In summary, the orange Moon seen tonight is a result of Earth's atmosphere filtering the moonlight as it passes through more atmospheric distance near the horizon, scattering shorter wavelengths and leaving longer, orange-red hues visible to observers.
