Because of a common video focusing problem, even the stars appear as tiny donuts even though the rocket flies through the easily-recognizable constellation Orion. And that's been the problem with so many false alarms and blind alleys in the quest to identify truly alien phenomena viewed by Earth's emissaries into the universe. People back on Earth must remember that the first principle of space travel is that objects coming off a vehicle tend to fly along with it. They appear to move in straight lines unless they encounter some force, such as the atmosphere or an exhaust plume from a rocket thruster. They don't need propulsion or power sources, just natural inertia.
Space missions dump excess propellant from engines after the vehicle reaches orbit.
Unused propellant may leak past a hundred different valves in small steering rockets. When the jets fire, bits of propellant can get caught in the exhaust and shoot off at great speeds, while other pieces floating nearby are blasted away by expanding rocket plumes. Another common culprit is ice. Some vehicles discard waste heat by evaporating water against coolant panels, resulting in blizzards of ice crystals. These valves can leak or get stopped up with ice which later flakes away.