Within the Past Hour I Saw an Orange Moon [I Like The Moon]

& I mean it was orange. Not 'orange', not light orange but full on in your face orange. It was bold, bright & beautiful, in the shape of a thin crescent.
My brother saw a lot of smoke coming from a neighbour 6 hours ago, we live in the countryside & the moon was pretty much just above the horizon, so I guess this's what allowed the moon to have a way stronger colour than I've ever seen before.

Have you ever seen the moon have a really strong colour before (doing so whilst on drugs doesn't count)?

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adorbz · 26-30, F

I saw the moon a few hours ago and I thought it looked a little orange too but not bright like that 👀 maybe you have the perfect angle or however that works

FCNantes · 22-25, M

@adorbz This: "My brother saw a lot of smoke coming from a neighbour 6 hours ago, we live in the countryside & the moon was pretty much just above the horizon".

Smoke, just like the atmosphere (which's 'thicker' when the moon/sun is low), causes the light to deflect, leading to a reduced prominence of short/long (I can't remember which) light waves. This has the knock-on effect of making the moon/sun appear orange.

SW-User

I've seen the moon look orangey red which usually indicates the next day will be insanely hot.

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FCNantes · 22-25, M

@FCNantes Damn. That's awesome to see the moon like that! Is there any correlation you've noticed? Or maybe a perfect correlation (e.g. every time you see the moon like that it's low)?

The correlation of summer & preceding "insanely hot days" would maybe suggest that there's more dust from the heat, which causes the orange. But then it's the day before. It's fascinating!

SW-User

@FCNantes It usually happens during a hot stretch. We had a number of days in a row where the heat was building up and when it showed up like that, the next day was a real scorcher. AND, I've only seen it happen when I lived in New York. So, it could be a combination of pollution, extensive carbon emissions, dust, and build up of heat that causes it?

FCNantes · 22-25, M

@SW-User I'd say the heat has an indirect effect (I struggle to see how higher temperatures alone'd cause the moon to appear orangier). I could easily imagine the rest having a direct effect.

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