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The glass roofs and angle of the sun at the time of the capture?

Bing Maps [Satellite] is okay http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=48.187141%2C%2016.349561&q=48.187141%2C16.349561&cp=48.18694871145921~16.349901334904583&lvl=18&encType=1

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It does sort of look like a lens flare. Weird that it would "eat" the image though; it's almost as if part of it was physically cut out. – Michael Todd Feb 28 '11 at 18:30
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I also thought of lens flare, especially because of the white diagonal. But I'm not sure that explains the totally white area on the lower side. – underdark♦ Feb 28 '11 at 18:35
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Looks photoshoped for reason though what that reason is unknown. If the ortho-rectification was done in stereo the glare might have been block out on purpose photogrammetrydevelopment.blogspot.com/2011/01/… – Mapperz♦ Feb 28 '11 at 18:40
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The stars are not lens flare: they are likely Fraunhofer diffraction. See photo.stackexchange.com/q/6605/1356 . That they occur at six angles suggests a hexagonal camera diaphragm; that some occur in parallel rows suggests multiple (three?) bright lights are involved. That they are white rules out a laser; this has to be a direct solar reflection from good mirrors. The directions of the shadows and of the buildings suggests the sun is almost directly behind the sensor: the mirrors point right at us (and the sun). But the presence of the empty patch and the rainbow patch are a mystery. – whuber♦ Feb 28 '11 at 19:34
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@mankoff Interesting idea. Initially it seems the sensor motion would show as a uniformly displaced "rainbow", whereas these patches exhibit no such pattern. Also, the phenomenon is not associated with sensor motion, but with object motion relative to the ground. Perhaps the sensor's motion created an apparent, complex motion of the sun's reflection off a bright ground-based object that is not perfectly flat. – whuber♦ Mar 1 '11 at 21:46
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