What does it mean when the moon is red?

Question

i was with my husband and we looked at the moon it was so red and very close to earth is was like if u could of touched it!!but inpossible right lol!

Answer 1

smog

Answer 2

OK this is how it works. We live on a planet covered in water. Even what we call air has water in it. It rains right? It has moisture.
Try taking a glass of water and looking at the side of it. The things you look at distort as you get near the edge. The same happens with Earth.The Earth is an Orb. As the moon is near the horizon it is distorted by the atmosphere. The atmosphere contains smog and gas pollution from planes . So you know how when you spill oil into a puddle you get colors? The same happens with the atmosphere. Thus the moon can look Red or Orange. The Sun does the same thing. It is light refracting off of water particles. Fires cause the red color also. The refraction magnifies the size of the moon near the horizon because of the round shape of the Earth.

Answer 3

Technically, anything you want it to! But, really, it works a lot like the sun. Since the moon reflects the suns white light, when it is low on the horizon, it will look red or orange because our atmosphere bends the light and filters out the other colors. It also looks bigger because you are looking at it against small things on the horizon. If you use a quarter as a reference, you can look at the moon when it is close to the horizon and then when it is high in the night sky. The moon's size doesn't change, but what we are using as a reference does! Isn't that neat! I love to watch the moon!

Answer 4

The biggest reason for a reddish moon is the same as the reason for a red sun as it sets. the light is refracted differently in the atmosphere and broken into different colours like when it goes through a prism. Light is also refracted differently as oi goes past the earth and is bent by the upper atmosphere. That is why Lunar eclipses are usually red as well.

Answer 5

It means that the atmosphere is full of (very) small particles of dust, sand, etc. These particles scatter the short wavelengths of the light from the moon (the blue and green light) in the atmosphere, leaving only the longer wavelengths (yellow and red) for us to see.

If you are thinking about a superstitious meaning of a red moon, or an interpretation according to the farmer's almanac, I don't know, and I don't care, since I don't believe in it anyway. :-)

Answer 6

It mean that the Martians from the red planet have landed on the moon to party and decided to paint the town red.

Seriously.... it is the scattering of particles that give a red appearance

Answer 7

I dont know what it means, but in a lot of books ive read, a red moon can be a symbol of something bad is going to happen, like a bad omen,...although it probably is something similar to the green flash at sunset, chemicals in the atmosphere, stuff like that, try a science textbook/site

Answer 8

Sorry to burst the bubble, pollution is the reason the Moon appears to be Red.

Answer 9

LOL the first thing came to mind after reading this question was pollution. The light passed though dust and red came....I know it isn't the case for the moon.

Other than that thought, it's impossible what you're discribing. Maybe your eyes were red???

Answer 10

Pyroclastic dust. A volcano has erupted somewhere and the ash is traveling around the world via the wind.

Answer 11

There is an old saying "Red at night, sailors delight." Meaning the following day would be calm seas and mild weather