Most of the astronomical information provided in this book is suitable for the whole of Australia and New Zealand. The descriptions of celestial events each month, such as the positions and movements of the planets, apply anywhere in the two countries. For local times of lunar eclipses and phases of the Moon in different time zones, just add or subtract the time difference; eg for New Zealand add two hours and for Western Australia subtract two or three (depending on daylight saving in eastern Australia).
Rise and set times
The rise and set times for the Sun, Moon and planets have been calculated for Sydney, but with suitable adjustments they can provide approximate times elsewhere. If you are close to the 34° latitude of Sydney you can adjust the times very simply for your location: take the difference between Sydney’s longitude of 151.2° East and the longitude of your location (you can find this on most maps), multiply by 4 and add the result in minutes. The tide tables apply to Sydney only.
Capital cities
The following corrections are based on longitude differences and allow for daylight saving. For Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland the possible errors with these adjustments will only be a few minutes. The errors will be somewhat larger for the other cities.