EDIT: Dust motes - judging by the size, at a guess on the face of the low pass filter.
I thought you had posted a slide of pond water. Then I saw the stars. A great illustration side-by-side with the corrected image.
If you are not using PS, or something similar can you download
GIMPshop, or
GIMP for Windows and install? I suggest GIMPshop for Windows users as the interface is more aligned with PS.
Apply an auto equalisation to a flate frame, as in the image attached, which should reveal or accentuate the detail. If the object is in the flat frame then... if not... but I suspect it is.