A beautiful orange moon hanging low in the sky is something most people have seen before. 

What causes this phenomenon? Does the moon really have a color? 

The last photo at right has enhanced hues of the moon's colors to show more clearly the differences in shade that illustrate the history of the mixed and impacted topography, and geology of the moon's surface.

The reason for the orange color is due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere. When the moon is near the horizon, the moonlight must pass through much more atmosphere than when the moon is directly overhead. By the time the moonlight reaches your eyes, the blue, green, and purple rays of visible light have been stripped away and scattered by air molecules. That's why you only see yellow, orange, or red.

We can see an orange moon at any time of the year. Sometimes, it can appear orange even when it is directly overhead. And this is due to a lot of pollution, dust, and smoke, in the atmosphere.

orange moon #1 & 2