How does one look for Vulcanoids in images?
Vulcanoid asteroids will move relative to the background stars. A Vulcanoid in the stable zone (see Question 1.3: “What is the stable Vulcanoid zone?”) will orbit the Sun rather quickly. Vulcanoids with a mean distance of between 0.08 a.u and 0.18 a.u will orbit the Sun in 8.26 to 27.87 days respectively. If it were possible to see a Vulcanoid at inferior conjunction, then an observer on Earth would see a 0.08 a.u. Vulcanoid could move almost 38 arcseconds in time span of 4 minutes. An 0.18 a.u. Vulcanoid could move almost 28 arcseconds. On the other hand, a Vulcanoid on the ecliptic at greatest elongation would appear motionless to an Earth-bound observer. The observed motion of a Vulcanoid in the stable Vulcanoid zone will be somewhere between the two extremes. A Vulcanoid asteroid will almost certainly be fainter than magnitude +8.0. Dr. Durda’s SOHO search group effectively set a maximum brightness. It might be possible that a Vulcanoid could brighten somewhat above magnitude +8.0
