She can be illuminating, however briefly (5)
I believe the answer is:
vesta
'be illuminating however briefly' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'she' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'she' could be 'esta' and 'esta' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'v' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'can' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vesta that I've seen before include "Roman goddess of the hearth" , "Stave (anag.)" , "Roman goddess; match" , "Asteroid; goddess; match" , "Hearth goddess; a match" .)