Spanish Woman Declares Ownership of the Sun

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REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic

But don’t call her greedy. She promises to use the profits to end Spain’s public finance crisis.

Speaking to the online edition of Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, 49-year old Angeles Duran explained that she began exploring potential ownership in September, inspired by an American man who previously registered himself as the owner of the moon, and a number of planets in our solar system. After consulting with local officials in her hometown of Salvaterra do Miño, in Spain’s Galicia region, she discovered that although international agreements bar countries from claiming ownership of stars, they don’t stop individuals from doing so.

(See pictures of a total eclipse of the sun.)

Duran isn’t exactly modest about becoming the sun’s first proprietor in 4.5 billion years.

“There was no snag. I backed my claim legally. I am not stupid. I know the law,” she said. “I did it but anyone else could have done it. It simply occurred to me first.”

(Watch a TIME video about building a solar-powered home.)

A document issued by her local notary public declares that Duran is now the “owner of the Sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the center of the solar system, located at an average distance from Earth of about 149,600,000 kilometers.”

Duran hopes to charge everyone who uses the sun—from the owners of solar farms to sunbathers—a to-be-decided fee. She plans to give half of the revenue to the Spanish government, 20% to the country’s pension fund, 10% to research and 10% to ending world hunger. She’ll pocket the rest for herself.

“It is time to start doing things the right way,” she said. “If there is an idea for how to generate income and improve the economy and people’s well-being, why not do it?”

(Can Europe end its debt crisis? Read TIME’s take here.)