h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I've just come back from a long early-morning walk along the seafront here in Dublin. A bunch of people out with impressively large telescopic gear. But the sky, though bright, has been very hazy, with occasional clear spells. I tried the business, as recommended, with a piece of dark card, pin-holed, but the projected image was too small and faint to detect any even tinier shadow that might be Venus.

After walk, came home, got my UV filter sunglasses, put two layers of dark slide film celluloid over the pinhole in the card, looked through, and....bingo, there, low right in the tiny visible disc of the sun was an even tinier black dot, Venus in silhouette. Ta Daaaaa.