We started designing our Catalina Dynamic Chorus more than a year ago, and the process of development and refinement has resulted in a nice little piece of synchronicity that we didn’t even think of when we came up with the name: the Catalina pedal has arrived on the exact same day that Comet Catalina makes its closest approach to earth. 

Officially named C/2103, Comet Catalina was discovered on October 31, 2013 and it’s currently making what its believed to be its first and possibly last tour of the inner solar system. It’s likely to be an Oort Cloud object which was nudged earthwards by a gravitational interaction with another chunk of rock way out there. And tonight it’s at its closest to earth, at a distance of 67.3 million miles (108.4 million kilometres). If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere you can find it between M101 and Alcor in Ursa Major tonight, and you should be able to spot it with a good pair of binoculars or a telescope.

Our Catalina chorus was given its name – inspired by Catalina Island – because we like to include local references from time to time as a little nod to who we are. The 805 Overdrive gets its name from our telephone area code, for example, and the name Catalina conjures up images of our home state of California and the shimmer and swirl of the ocean.

But we like that the Catalina’s arrival has coincided with its extraterrestrial and equally ocean-hued counterpart as well.