Packing of 180 equal circles on a sphere (Q1056388)

The present paper concerns the well-known problem of determining the maximal angular diameter of \(n\) equal circles (spherical caps) which can be packed on the surface of the unit sphere without overlapping; see \textit{L. Fejes Tóth}'s book [Lagerungen in der Ebene, auf der Kugel und in Raum. 2nd ed. Berlin etc.: Springer Verlag (1972; Zbl 0229.52009)]. The author constructs a packing of 180 equal circles of density 0.85617. The graph of the packing is derived from the regular tiling \(\{3,5+\}_{3,2}\) that covers the surface of the regular icosahedron \(\{3,5\}\). The above density is compared with the upper bound 0.89399 following from a general result by \textit{R. M. Robinson} [Math. Ann. 144, 17--48 (1961; Zbl 0107.39802); p. 47]. In a similar way packings of 36 and 72 circles are obtained with density 0.81914 and 0.84343, respectively.