Why was the moon red tonight?

Question

Is it an Apocolyptic sign? (kidding)

Answer 1

That was a beautiful moon out tonight! When it was really low it was so deep red that it was almost invisible.

The redness is caused by summer haze, by air pollution, and by the low altitude in the sky - the moon's light crosses much more of the atmosphere when it is low than when it is high.

Of course it is not apocalyptic. Although, the unusual redness may be caused by increased haze in the sky, caused by increased moisture, caused by higher ocean temperatures, caused by global warming, which if it continues its present trend, will cause catastrophes. So maybe it is apocalyptic.

Answer 2

The reason for this color is exactly the same reason that we have red sun rises and sun sets on the earth. It is caused by the dust and other pollutions that are in the air of the earth.

As the sunlight travels through the earth's atmosphere, it picks up a red color from the pollutions and dirt and then the sunlight travels on through the earth's atmosphere and it stops on the surface of the moon during an eclipse! Thus, the red color we have in our sunrises and sunsets in now being projected upon the moons surface! Therefore, the moon will have a red to red brown color.

The reason it only happens during eclipses is that is the only time that the allignment of the sun, earth, and moon will allow the sunlight to go through the earths atmosphere and to be directly projected upon the moon.

On other occasions (ie. moon phases), the reflected light from the earth strikes the moon, but that does not give the moon a red color. It must be light that passes through the earths atmosphere and the light must then pass directly to the moon. It can not be reflected light.

Answer 3

The orange and red tints that the Sun and Moon sometimes take on are caused by the particles in the Earth's atmosphere.

When light (or more specifically, packets of light called photons) from an astronomical object passes through the Earth's atmosphere, it scatters off of particles in the latter. It turns out that these particles like to scatter blue light more than they do red light; so "bluer" photons (those with shorter wavelengths) tend to get scattered, and "redder" photons (those with longer wavelengths) pass through. So, astronomical objects look redder from Earth than they would from space, because the redder wavelengths from the objects penetrate the atmosphere better than the bluer ones. Incidentally, this is why the sky is blue: blue light from the Sun is scattered in all directions on its way to the Earth.

But how does this explain the occasional redness of the Moon or the Sun? Your son may have noticed that they always occur when the Sun or Moon is close to the horizon. If you think about it, sunlight or moonlight must travel through the maximum amount of atmosphere to get to your eyes when the Sun or Moon is on the horizon (remember that that atmosphere is a sphere around the Earth). So, you expect *more* blue light to be scattered from Sunlight or Moonlight when the Sun or Moon is on the horizon than when it is, say, overhead; this makes the object look redder. In other words, the Sun or Moon tends to look orange or red when it is rising or setting because that's the time when the light has to travel through the most atmosphere to get to you. The effect is exacerbated when there are thin clouds in front or behind the Sun or Moon: the clouds themselves often glow bright pink as well, because they are so good at scattering blue light.

Answer 4

The red haze is caused by dust being blown up from Africa. I saw it on the weather report on the five o'clock news, today. The weatherman said it should last up to a week.I don't think it is an apocalyptic sign.

Answer 5

A lunar eclipse.

Answer 6

the smog in the atmosphere thru which you have to gaze to see the moon??? just a guess.

Answer 7

It's because of dust suspended in the air.

Answer 8

this was an indian moon

Answer 9

lunar eclipse

Answer 10

I know it means something