BBC2 Play of the Week1977

Imogen Langrishe:
What star is that?

Otto Beck:
Venus.

Imogen Langrishe:
I thought it was Hesper.

Otto Beck:
Hesper? No, no, unmistakably Venus. The brightest of the planets - -a planet in fact, not a star.

Imogen Langrishe:
I thought they were the same.

Otto Beck:
The same - -the same as what?

Imogen Langrishe:
The same as each other, planets and stars.

Otto Beck:
Decidedly not. Planets are closer than stars, for one thing, and nine of them revolve around the sun against a background of constant stars that do not move. How does one know it's Venus, you ask? Well, because it's the brightest of planets and because it's in the position it should be, if it is Venus, moving in the direction Venus ought to move in. How then can it be anything else but Venus?

Imogen Langrishe:
I see.