Spanish woman stakes ownership claim to the sun

LONDON - A woman in Spain has claimed that she is the owner of the sun after she got it registered as her property. She now plans to charge people who benefit from the sun’s energy, it was reported here.

Fortynine-year-old Angeles Duran, a resident of Vigo in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia, applied for ownership of the sun after she learnt that similar claims had been made by a US national on the Moon, Mars and Venus, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prevents any government from staking claim over celestial bodies, but it doesn’t extend to private individuals and she was backed by her notary after consulting legal institutions in the country.

Duran was issued with a document that declares she is “the owner of the Sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the centre of the solar system, at an averaged distance from Earth of around 149,600,000 kilometres”.

“I know the law and backed my claim legally,” she was quoted as saying.

“I did it but anyone else could have done it, it simply occurred to me first,” she added.

Duran said that she plans to profit from her property and wants to charge those who derive a benefit from the sun’s energy.

She claimed that she had met representatives from Spain’s industry ministry to discuss levying a fee on photovoltaic plants for converting the sun’s energy into electricity.

The woman said: “When you have a property, it makes sense to make use of it. Power companies profit from the rivers which belong to everyone so I hope to take advantage of the sun.”

According to her plan, half of the proceeds will go to the government, 20 percent to the country’s pension fund, 10 percent to help end world hunger and 10 percent on research. The last 10 percent of the earnings from the Sun will be kept for herself.

She said: “It is time to start doing things the right way, if there is an idea for how to generate income and improve the economy and people’s wellbeing, then why not do it?”