Yes, you read that correctly: THE sun in the sky -- the 4.5-billion-year-old celestial giver of light and heat and well, life to all things on Earth, is now owned by Angeles Duran, or so she asserts after legally registering our closest star with a notary public, the global news agency Agence France-Presse reports.
Duran told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that she decided to try to become the sole owner of the sun when she heard about how Nevada entrepreneur Dennis Hope posted a similar claim in 1980 with the United Nations for ownership of the moon and proceeded to sell acres of lunar real estate -- not exactly a traditional holiday stocking stuffer.
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Angeles Duran of Spain has laid claim to the sun.
In her quest to own the sun, Duran has used the same loophole as Hope by getting around the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, adopted in 1967, that stipulates "outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."
Both Hope and Duran maintain that, while the Outer Space Treaty prohibits entire countries from laying claim to outer space property, they filed their ownership petitions as individuals.
"There was no snag," Duran said. "I backed my claim legally, I am not stupid, I know the law. I did it, but anyone else could have done it -- it simply occurred to me first."
Duran, 49, who lives in Salvaterra do Mino, is now in possession of a presumed legal document, declaring her the "owner of the Sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the centre of the solar system, located at an average distance from Earth of about 149,600,000 kilometres."
But can someone actually own the sun or the moon or any other heavenly body? Apparently not, Tanja Masson-Zwaan, president of the Netherlands-based International Institute of Space Law, told AOL News in an e-mail.
"They argue that the Outer Space Treaty only binds states because it is an intergovernmental treaty -- an agreement between states -- and therefore, individuals can do what they want," she said. "This is not true. A citizen is given its rights as a citizen by the state and should live by the laws of that state, and cannot do things that the state is not allowed to do."
Masson-Zwaan asserts that the U.N. treaty applies to everyone, and it would throw out anyone's claim to any celestial items.
She also explains that individuals are allowed to be involved in space activities "as long as a state authorizes and supervises those activities."
Hope's Lunar Embassy wasn't the first enterprise to offer a piece of outer space to the public. In 1979, the International Star Registry invited consumers to have stars named for themselves or loved ones. With billions and billions of stars to choose from in the the Milky Way galaxy warehouse, there were endless possibilities -- and revenue to make.
Unlike Duran's claim of ownership of the sun, the International Star Registry recognizes no legal title to its heavenly products. According to its website, "We do not own the star, so we cannot sell it to you. This is like adopting the star. It is something you can point at to know that there is something special out there for you."
While the registry has named hundreds of thousands of stars for people since 1979, it also lets prospective star namers know up front that astronomers won't acknowledge your chosen name because it's only published in the company's star catalog.
Even if Duran's sun claim were recognized by the U.N. (which it hasn't been), she doesn't plan on selling bits and pieces of our home star (would anyone want to visit someplace that has a surface temperature of nearly 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit?).
She wants to impose a fee on anybody who'd like to use her new "property." She'd offer half of her questionable solar income to Spain, and another 20 percent to her country's pension fund. Twenty percent more would be split between research and ending global hunger, and the final 10 percent would stay in her pocket.
As president of the International Institute of Space Law, Masson-Zwaan considers claims of lunar or solar ownership to be entirely illegal.
"There is ownership in space. For instance, a state or entity that launches a lunar rover or base remains the owner, even though it is in space," she said. "But no one can own 'territory' in space, i.e. entire celestial bodies or parts of it. That is forbidden.
"Ideally, every judge and court should know about the existence of the Outer Space Treaty, but we clearly have more work to do."