Venus is so bright right now

Like, wow!

Per this page: https://theskylive.com/
it is at -4.01 magnitude.


This is interesting:
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/measuring-planet-magnitudes/

Most bodies, such as the Moon and Mercury, become fainter when their crescent becomes thinner. Venus does likewise but only up to a certain point — then it becomes brighter!

We turned to SOHO again to determine Venus’s phase function when it was very near the Sun. Analysis of these observations revealed that the thin crescent’s excess brightness comes about when droplets of sulfuric acid suspended high in the Venusian atmosphere scatter sunlight forward, toward Earth. This phenomenon is similar to a “glory” in Earth’s atmosphere where water droplets scatter sunlight. From the SOHO data, we found that Venus approaches magnitude –5 at its greatest brilliancy, when it’s about 22% illuminated.