SPACE.com -- Pennsylvania Community to Name Star for Hijack Victims

This IKONOS 2 spacecraft photo from September 12, 2001, shows the terrorist damage to New York from the September 11 attack.

The commercial IKONOS 2 satellite carries super-powerful camera system that snaps extremely close-up images of Earth, such as this image of lower Manhattan from June 30, 2000. The twin World Trade Center towers are visible on the left side of the image.

The aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon is clearly visible in this satellite image from the IKONOS spacecraft.

An image from Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite of the Pentagon before the September 11 attack.

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	Pennsylvania Community to Name Star for Hijack Victims By Reuters and staff reports posted: 08:48 pm ET 16 September 2001

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SOMERSET, Pa. A rural Pennsylvania community will honor the victims of a hijacked jetliner that crashed near Pittsburgh by having a star in the heavens named in their memory, an official said Friday.

Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler told an evening memorial service attended by relatives of passengers who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that the community had arranged for the naming of a heavenly body through the International Star Registry.

Forty-five people died on board the Boeing 757, which crashed Tuesday in a wooded area 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

It was the only one of four hijacked commercial airliners not to strike a U.S. landmark, possibly because of a passenger revolt against the alleged assailants just before the crash.

"They have thrown off this earthly coil, and touch the face of God," Spangler said at the candlelight memorial in Somerset, a town of 6,500 located about 10 miles from the crash site.

Hundreds thronged the town's main square, clutching small American flags and candles, while dignitaries including Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge spoke beneath a giant American flag.

Spangler did not say when the star would be named or what it would be called. However, whatever name they select will be unofficial. Stars and other heavenly bodies receive their names only from the International Astronomical Union.

But he told grieving family members they would receive astronomical charts to help them locate the star in the night sky from the registry.

Candles were lit for the passengers and a bell tolled as each name was read aloud. Names believed to be those of the alleged hijackers were said to be unavailable.