The Moon appears orange primarily because of Earth's atmosphere filtering the light it reflects. When the Moon is near the horizon, its light passes through a thicker layer of atmosphere, which scatters the shorter wavelengths of light (like blue and violet) more than the longer wavelengths (like red and orange). As a result, mostly the red and orange light reaches our eyes, causing the Moon to appear orange. This is the same reason the Sun looks orange or red at sunrise and sunset. Other factors such as dust, pollution, smoke from wildfires, or volcanic activity in the atmosphere can enhance this effect by scattering more of the shorter wavelengths and letting the orange/red hues dominate. The Moon's true color outside Earth's atmosphere is gray; it only takes on these colors due to atmospheric interference. During lunar eclipses, a similar scattering effect makes the Moon appear red, often called a "Blood Moon." In summary, the orange color of the Moon is an optical effect caused by the Earth's atmosphere filtering the Sun's light reflected off the Moon, with longer wavelengths like orange and red dominating when the Moon is low in the sky or when the atmosphere contains extra particles like dust or smoke.