Venus' magnitude during inferior conjunction I was doing an assignment on Stellarium when I observed Venus to have an apparent magnitude that didn't become less negative than -3, even at inferior conjunctions when we faced the dark side of Venus.

As far as I understand, apparent magnitude is subjective to an observer on earth, and that observer does not see Venus at all during an inferior conjunctions, so the magnitude should rise above zero.

I checked for other inferior and exterior planets and the moon on Stellarium; they all supported my theory.
I thought it was some sort of bug, but apparently it's a scientific fact. 
I couldn't find any explanation online. 

Did I understand something wrong?
I found references which indicate that Venus usually goes dark.  Check out the graphs in this paper for one example.  

The exceptions happen when Venus' orbit, which is slightly out of the ecliptic, brings it to inferior conjunction when projected onto our (Earth's) orbital plane, but Venus remains at a slight angle relative to our viewing lines.  

From UniverseToday,   


  Not all inferior conjunctions of Venus are created equal. The planet’s
  orbit is tilted 3 degrees with respect to our own and can thus pass a
  maximum of eight degrees north or south of the Sun. Venus last did
  this on inferior conjunction in 2009 and will once again pass a
  maximum distance north of the Sun in 2017. For the southern
  hemisphere, the red letter years are 2007, and next year in 2015.