Mystery in Vivid Purple

Photo date: July 3, 2015. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

The photo below was taken near a school in New York City. We see a purple orb floating in the sky.

Below is a closeup which fails to show any details, but at least it shows clearly the very vivid color.  There is no way to explain orb colors this vivid through any theory of floating dust particles. In the extremely rare cases when suspended dust particles are photographed (which requires extremely dusty conditions), such particles appear in dull, faint colors such as brown or gray, rather than particles with bright vivid colors.

There was no fog, mist, rain, or precipitation on this night. The air quality listed on airnow.gov was good, with a level of 46.  The pollen count listed on pollen.com was low to medium, with a level of 4.6.