The objective of this paper to discuss the observation of a C60 molecule by projection microscopy, in order to highlight the availability of structural information in the sample. In this context, a model for the potential energy relevant to an imaging electron encountering a carbon molecule is developed. The carbon atoms are characterized by static and dynamic polarizabilities to account for the effects of the static extraction bias and the moving imaging electrons. In agreement with previous papers, Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction are encountered. The C60 molecule turns out to have a strong focusing effect near polarizability resonances. The simulations reveal that, below a given bias, little structural information is available in the potential-energy distribution, due to the large dynamic polarizability of the carbon atoms. Although this information is present for larger bias and appears in the local current density, the resolution of the technique (in its present form) is too limited for the atomic structure of the sample to appear in projected images.