Weird full moon

[Squash Muppet]

Hi

What's up with the moon tonight??? I know it's a full moon tonight but it's as dark orange as the sun

SM

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hang on - oops was going to get Dexter to have a look but everything has gone dark! Bernie aka Dexterdog

[rustylady]

Hi

What's up with the moon tonight??? I know it's a full moon tonight but it's as dark orange as the sun

SM

Just been out in the back garden to look. Full moon, not really bright, but not discoloured at all. Maybe atmospheric pollution - if low in the sky you will see the moon through whatever is between you and it.

[Wendy]

Hi

What's up with the moon tonight??? I know it's a full moon tonight but it's as dark orange as the sun

SM

well as the earth passes between the sun and moon, the moon appears red - the thing is i thought that was when there was a lunar eclipse and i thought that was last month!!!.............anyone else know???

[Alice]

Hello Wendy, you've had me outside for a look at the moon. Nothing to be seen - too cloudy. But Rustylady is right. If you are seeing the moon orange it is atmospheric pollution which is causing it.

[Headfry]

Hi Folks.....
Yesterday morning about 6am.....dark orange/ red full moon... whats all that about?
It was just getting light, I could not believe my eyes it was more red than the eclipse! wow, a very strange start to my day!

[yoanbob]

mum used to call orange moons the harvest moon, if its low down its pollution if its high up dont know

[Lesley Jay]

I picked this information up from a blog and it explains the orange / red moon.

At full moon, the Moon is almost on the opposite site of the Earth to the Sun although not quite all lined up. That means that to get to the Moon, light from the Sun has to skim through our atmosphere. It has to go through a lot of atmosphere and, for the same reason that sunsets look reddy-orange, the light which gets to the Moon is slightly orange tinged; some of the blue part of the spectrum has been filtered out by Earth's atmosphere. The light has to come back, through a lot of atmosphere, to your eye. It is this last trip which will do the rest of the reddening. That way, the amount of reddening will depend on your local pollution levels - different countries will see different colours. The Moon should also get less red as it gets higher above the horizon as there is less atmosphere for the light to travel through.

[zebedee]

Cor, crumbs, LJ! I'm impressed!

[Nicos]

Me too!- are there no limits to your talents LJ ????
I got up early today and had a peek incase it was red this morning....and it was raining!!!

[Flummery]

There was an old Lancashire legend (recalled by Old Lancastrians like myself) that when there's 'Blood on the moon' there's going to be evil deeds done! Ha-har! Being as somewhere there is always an evil deed being done, they couldn't touch you for the accuracy of the story.

[johnty greentoes]

Hi

What's up with the moon tonight??? I know it's a full moon tonight but it's as dark orange as the sun

SM

How near the horizon was it when you observed the strange colour?

[johnty greentoes]

LJ - very impressive...

[Squash Muppet]

Hi Johnty

It was fairly low in the sky when I first spotted it, but it was amazing. It seemed to lighten slightly the higher it climbed.

Wow LJ - I'm v v impressed.

Squash Muppet

[Tyto Alba]

Of course the nearer the horizon the moon is, the greater thickness of atmosphere (and pollutants) you are observing it through.

This effect has nothing to do with the apparent size of the moon though. The moon looks much bigger when it is near the horizon. This effect is a total optical illusion created in your brain. If you measure the diameter of the moon with your at arms length thumb, it is exactly the same whether the moon is on the horizon or overhead. Yet is looks massive on the horizon sometimes.