Bluedot Festival
Bluedot is a music, science and culture event held annually in July since 2016 at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks.[1][2][3]
Bluedot | |
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![]() bluedot takes place against the backdrop of the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) in Cheshire | |
Status | Active |
Genre | Music festival, Science festival |
Frequency | Annual |
Location(s) | Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, United Kingdom |
Inaugurated | July 22, 2016 |
Most recent | July 18, 2019 |
Next event | July 23, 2020 |
Attendance | 15000 per day[1] |
Website | discoverthebluedot |
The event is endorsed by the University of Manchester,[4] current owners of the observatory.[5]

The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth popularised by Carl Sagan.[7]
Musical performances
Since 2016, acts performing at the bluedot festival have included Orbital, Underworld, Alt-J, Goldfrapp, Jean-Michel Jarre,[1][2][3] The Chemical Brothers,[8] Gary Numan and The Flaming Lips.[9]
Kraftwerk headlined Saturday at the 2019 event, alongside New Order and Hot Chip.[10][11]
The 2020 festival was due to feature Bjรถrk, Groove Armada and Metronomy[12], however the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[13]. The acts are have been rescheduled to headline the festival in June 2021.
Science talks
The festival has included talks and demonstrations from Richard Dawkins, Brian Cox, Jim Al-Khalili,[14] Philippa Browning,[15] Timothy John O'Brien,[16] Sarah Bridle,[17] Lisa Harvey-Smith,[18] Heather Williams[19] and Teresa Anderson.[20]
References
- "Bluedot". Bluedot.
- Heward, Emily (2017). "Review: Bluedot Festival day two at Jodrell Bank". manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Manchester Evening News.
- Martin, Daniel (2016). "Bluedot festival review โ cosmic vibes permeate rave revival". theguardian.com. The Guardian.
- "bluedot 2019". events.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- "Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics | The University of Manchester". www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- Staff (12 February 2020). "Pale Blue Dot Revisited". NASA. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- Sagan, Carl (1990). "The Pale Blue Dot". youtube.com. YouTube.
- "Bluedot Festival 2018: Review - The Skinny".
- Wray, Daniel Dylan (23 July 2018). "Bluedot festival review โ Gary Numan makes waves at science-pop mashup". the Guardian.
- Moore, Sam (2018-11-21). "Kraftwerk announce huge 2019 UK festival show as Bluedot headliners". nme.com. NME. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- "2019 Lineup". Bluedot Festival. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- "Line-Up". Bluedot. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
- Heward, Emily (2020-04-16). "Bluedot postpones 2020 festival to next year". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
- "Science In The Soul: Richard Dawkins in Conversation with Jim Al-Khalili โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
- "Philippa Browning โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
- "Tim O'Brien โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
- "Sarah Bridle โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
- "Lisa Harvey-Smith โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
- "Heather Williams". Bluedot Festival. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- "Teresa Anderson โ Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.