Why did the moon have a distinct reddish edge tonight? In Monterey, California, with a &quot;half-moon&quot; high in the sky at about 9 pm (2017-08-30), the moon had a distinct red outline on the outer edge of the NE quadrant; for awhile I saw it also on the outer edge of the SW quadrant.
I observed this phenomena from two locations, about a mile distant from each other.
I've never seen that before. What would cause it?
I took a picture of it with my camera, but you can't tell anything &quot;out of the ordinary&quot; from the image.
UPDATE
It's a clunky picture (I've been watching My Three Sons lately) - red not visible, fuzzy, and makes it like a full moon, but here it is, at any rate:
Smoke (fire) is not the only explication - Dust is also a good candidate. I've noticed a drop in "seeing quality" even when observing deep sky objects or planets trough a telescope due to large amounts of dust in the air.


  The second reason for a red Moon is if there’s some kind of particle in the air. A forest fire or volcanic eruption can fill the air with tiny particles that partially obscure light from the Sun and Moon. Once again, these particles tend to scatter blue and green light away, while permitting red light to pass through more easily. When you see a red moon, high up in the sky, it’s probably because there’s a large amount of dust in the air.


(source: Red Moon - Universe Today)