The seeing forecast indicates the level of atmospheric turbulence. Similar to cloud and transparency, the darker the blue, the better the conditions.

Astrospheric process hourly seeing from the Canadian RDPS.

Observing planets, planetary nebulae or any celestial object with details at high power requires excellent seeing conditions. When we look at planets, we need high power to see all the fine details but most of the time we are limited by turbulence occurring in the telescope (local seeing) and/or in the atmosphere. During a night of bad seeing we are usually limited to see only two bands on the Jupiter disc and we can hardly use power over 100-150x. On excellent seeing conditions we can use high power and see many bands, white spots, festoons and details in the great red spot.