My 2025 Birthday Star

I turn 57 years old today, so here is a 57-pointed star to mark the occasion. It’s actually 3 stars, each of which has 19 points, which works because (3)(19) = 57. The individual stars here are {19/9} enneadecagrams — a blue one on the bottom layer, with green on the top, and red for the in-between star.

A 56-Pointed Star, To Mark the Occasion of Turning 56 Years Old

I’ve been making and blogging these birthday stars for well over a decade, and see no reason to stop any time soon. This one is made of four {7/3} heptagrams, shown in blue, with four {7/2} heptagrams shown in yellow. The area of intersection of these two types of star polygon is shown in green. This works to yield a 56-pointed star because (7)(4) + (7)(4) = 28 + 28 = 56.

Happy Beethoven’s Birthday!

Happy Ludwig van Beethoven’s Birthday! For those keeping track, it’s his 253rd. A good way to celebrate is to listen to one or more of his symphonies, and I’ve chosen the Ninth to post here, as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Charles Schulz’s Peanuts provided my earliest education regarding Beethoven. Here are some samples of this work.

Monday’s Holiday

Banks, the U.S. bond market, and the U.S. Post Office will all be closed on John Lennon’s birthday this year (Monday, October 9th).

My 2023 Birthday Star

Today is the day I turn 55, so here is a 55-pointed star to mark the ocassion. It’s composed of eleven five-pointed stars, which works because (5)(11) = 55.

Two Rhombic Triacontahedra, Each Decorated with Birthday Stars

In yesterday’s post, I unveiled my annual birthday star for my new age, 54. Today, I’m placing that 54-pointed star on each of the thirty faces of a rhombic triacontahedron. I use a program called Stella 4d (free trial available right here) to do this, and it allows images on polyhedron-faces to either be placed inside the face, or around the face. Here’s the “inside” version:

And here is the “around each face” version:

Which one do you like better?

My Birthday Star for 2022

I turn 54 years old today, so here is a 54-pointed star to mark the occasion. The nine repetitions of the six colors of the spectrum work because (6)(9) = 54.

At 53, My Age Is a Prime Number Again

It has long been a tradition of mine to make star polygons to mark my birthdays. Since I’m 53 today, here’s a 53-pointed star.

My Birthday Star for 2020

This is the day I turn 52 years old, and I’m marking the occasion with a 52-pointed star. This particular star is a compound of four thirteen-pointed stars, each shown in a different color. This works because (4)(13) = 52.

My 2019 Birthday Star

I was born 51 years ago today. To mark the occasion, here’s a 51-pointed star. It’s made of {17/7} heptadecagrams repeated 3 times, and with their edges extended as lines, in three different colors. This works because 51 = (17)(3).