Question #68c16

1 Answer
L.Shane John Paul N.
May 15, 2016

It is due to the scattering of light, by the particles of the Earth's atmosphere.

Explanation:

  • When the moon is near the horizon, the moonlight needs to travel a larger distance, than when it is directly overhead.

  • So, when the moonlight (made of white light) reaches you, the blue, green and purple parts of the light gets scattered, leaving the orange, yellow and red parts of it.

  • Therefore, it seems to appear reddish in colour.
          This is similar to the redness of [the Sun](https://socratic.org/astronomy/our-solar-system/the-sun-1) during sunrise and sunset.
Related questions
See all questions in Our Moon
Impact of this question
2460 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License