For the next day or so the moon is in a full phase. It’s also very low in the sky and so light reflected off it from the sun has further to pass through the atmosphere than when the it is directly overhead.

The result is that moon picks up a red, yellow or orange hue as light from it is refracted by the atmosphere as it hits dust particles and other pollutants. The snap above was taken around midnight last night at home in Northumberland where ambient light it very low, giving the moon the appearance of a large orange orb.

The image above was taken with a Canon EOS 450D with an exposure of 1/60 and an aperture of f/5.6. Have a look at my flickr feed to see other shots taken last night.