The Small Stellated Dodecahedron

The small stellated dodecahedron is one of the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra. It consists of twelve pentagrams, or five-pointed stars, with five pentagrams meeting at each vertex.

Question: The twelve outer vertices of the small stellated dodecahedron are the vertices of which Platonic solid?

First, construct the twelve pentahedral spikes by gluing the twelve "long" pairs of tabs together. One such pair is indicated by the tabs with circles.

Now notice that each spike has an "open" regular pentagon at its base. Finish the model by making sure these twelve pentagons make a regular dodecahedron.

WARNING! This small model should be attempted by experienced model builders only. See below for a larger model.

You will need six copies of this page. If you use six different colors, opposite spikes will be the same color.

Build this by first gluing the long tabs together on each piece. This will create twelve pentagonal pyramids with open pentagonal bases. Make sure these pentagonal bases fit together like a regular dodecahedron.

• How to build a model.
• See Herman Serras's animations of the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
• Steve Dutch enumerates the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
• Mark Newbold's stellated dodogahedron.