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My friend posted a picture of the moon as if there was an eclipse because it was so red but there wasn't a scheduled eclipse at the time (it was last night, from the Philippines).

I'm a little concerned because how else is that possible? It was in Manila so I guess there was a lot of smoke in the air but I don't know if that's the reason behind the moon's redness.

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Yes, pollution from (for example) wildfires can cause the moon to appear red. It is normally not noticed unless the moon is low in the sky.

Earthsky magazine is reporting that red sunsets and red moons are being reported across the USA. caused by wildfires. Even when the moon is quite high in the sky. I believe that fires from logging in the jungles of Borneo and the Philippines can have the same effect.

This has also been answered on https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/12223/why-were-both-the-sun-and-the-moon-red-today

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  • $\begingroup$ I might add that near-horizon moon looks more orange to me :-), and that one should be very cautious about trusting the color balance of your average digital camera when shooting in dark or near-dark conditions. $\endgroup$
    – Carl Witthoft
    Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 12:20

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