The property market is getting out of this world recently, and one woman has tried to take advantage of this situation by selling plots on land on the sun.

You might remember Spanish woman Maria Angeles Duran who, back in 2010, declared that she owned the sun and intended to bill all solar users for its use (yes, that really did happen).

Incredibly the Spanish courts recognised her claim, but as of yet no solar panel owners have received any invoices from her.


When Maria tried to take her entrepreneurial ambition up a notch and started selling plots of the sun on eBay, she received a devastating blow to her business.



The online auction house blocked Ms Duran’s account after they realised she was selling plots of our local star for €1 (73p) per metre square.

Angeles Duran, who thinks she owns the sun (Picture: Allvoices.com)

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How much would have Maria made from selling the sun? Earth’s surface area is about 317 million square kilometres, or 317 billion square metres. The surface area of the sun is roughly 12,000 times that of earth, making its surface are 3,804,000,000,000,000 (this is three quintillion, eight-hundred-and-four quadrillion square metres… we think). If each one of these square metres is sold for €1… well, Maria would be a very wealthy woman. The combined wealth of every human in the world is currently estimated to be at $241 trillion, so we’re going to have to start saving if we want our sun back from Maria.

After eBay put a stop to this quite frankly ridiculous plan a magistrate’s court in Madrid declared that Maria has the right to take them to court.

‘There was no snag, I backed my claim legally, I am not stupid, I know the law,’ Ms Duran said when she first laid claim to the sun.

Ms Duran claims she is using a loophole in the ‘Outer Space Treaty’ that states no countries may claim sovereignty over celestial bodies, however Duran (and many other oddballs) assert this doesn’t stipulate individuals cannot stake a claim to planets and stars.

Obviously no one has pointed out to Ms Duran that the sun isn’t the best place to sell land, considering that almost nothing in the universe (and certainly nothing man made) can get within 4.65 million miles of the sun’s surface without burning up.

Many people are obviously ignorant of this fact as she claims she received 600 orders worth €1,200 (£883) before the page was closed by eBay who deemed it a scam.

She is now claiming €10,000 (£7357) compensation from the company.

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