![note] Definition of stellation
Stellation is the process of constructing polyhedra by extending the facial planes past the polyhedron edges of a given polyhedron until they intersect (Wenninger 1989). The set of all possible polyhedron edges of the stellations can be obtained by finding all intersections on the facial planes.
When a Platonic or Archimedean solid is stellated they create new forms. The process of stellation creates a 3D form with tetrahedrons, or pyramids. For example, if you stellate a cube, a cube based pyramid will be created. Stellation can create a large number of new forms.
Links for stellations of Platonic solids
| Stellations of the Dodecahedron | Java applet that shows various stellations rotating and morphing into each other. Very cool. | |
| ![[img/sg_img-177.png|100]] | Small Stellated Dodecahedron | MathWorld article |
| ![[img/sg_img-178.png|100]] | Great Stellated Dodecahedron | MathWorld article |
| ![[img/sg_img-180.png|100]] | Small Stellated Dodecahedron | Wikipedia article |
| ![[img/sg_img-181.png|100]] | Stellated Icosahedra | There are 59 stellations of the icosahedron. These pages contain various images of these stellations and some background information. |
| ![[img/sg_img-182.png|200]] | Stellations of the Icosahedron | Informative article in [Symmetry, Crystals and Polyhedra] by Steven Dutch. |
| ![[img/sg_img-184.png|100]] | First stellation of icosahedron | Wikipedia article |
Polyhedron Stellations
| ![[img/sg_img-185.png]] | ![[img/sg_img-186.png]] | ![[img/sg_img-187.png]] |
| ![[img/sg_img-188.png]] | ![[img/sg_img-189.png]] | ![[img/sg_img-190.png]] |
To understand the stellated polyhedra, you need to look under the surface. The faces of these polyhedra are not the external facets, but rather larger polygons that extend through the middle of the figure, intersecting each other. This is easiest to see with the stellated octahedron (85). The large triangular faces cut through each other, forming two intersecting tetrahedra. One can obtain this figure by starting with an octahedron (which would be visible from the inside of this model), and allowing the faces to expand symmetrically until they intersect each other in the edges of a new polyhedron. This process is called stellation. Performing this process of stellation on a dodecahedron yields the small stellated dodecahedron (80), whose faces are pentagrams (five- pointed stars). Allowing these faces to expand even further (stellating the stellation) yields the great dodecahedron (not shown), and stellating this figure in turn yields the great stellated dodecahedron (82). Continuing the process yields nothing new, thus the dodecahedron has three stellations. The icosahedron has 59 stellations, of which three are shown here: 81, 83, and 84. Four of the stellated polyhedra are regular. These are the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra: the small stellated dodecahedron; its dual, the great icosahedron.