Originally posted by renegadeS
Cryptonomicon eludes to an important part of the picture, that shadow. However, his assumption that it has been altered by "censors" is simply that, an assumption. More probable is that the object there is not quite in the shape that you think it is. Don't forget that this satellite image is not straight down, it is at a slight angle.

Actually I think it's a function of being composed from multiple satellite images.

I bet it is an ordinary symmetrical, rotating radar antenna. It was just snapped at different times and the images composited.