HALCYON, July 18, 1977: a painted dusk coast under a great comet, with an observatory, a radio mast, a lighthouse, a drive-in, a diner sign and a kid with a telescope on a station wagonPeel for contentsSubscribeBack issuesThis issue

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Comet visible until Thursday✦Drive-ins report record crowds✦Diner pie shortage enters day three✦Observatory adds midnight tours✦Heatwave breaks at last✦Lighthouse keepers take questions✦Comet visible until Thursday✦Drive-ins report record crowds✦Diner pie shortage enters day three✦Observatory adds midnight tours✦Heatwave breaks at last✦Lighthouse keepers take questions✦
Comet visible until Thursday✦Drive-ins report record crowds✦Diner pie shortage enters day three✦Observatory adds midnight tours✦Heatwave breaks at last✦Lighthouse keepers take questions✦Comet visible until Thursday✦Drive-ins report record crowds✦Diner pie shortage enters day three✦Observatory adds midnight tours✦Heatwave breaks at last✦Lighthouse keepers take questions✦
Late news
The night everyone looked up
06
Cover story
The night everyone looked up

A comet, a heatwave and a whole valley out past midnight.

Nobody planned to stay up. By eleven the road to the observatory was full of station wagons, and by one the diner had run out of pie. Somebody brought a radio. Somebody else brought a telescope that had never left its box.

“We stopped talking. Even the kids stopped talking.”
Ruth Calder
7

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HALCYON 400▸ 12A
Night road, 1:12 a.m.
Night road, 1:12 a.m.
HALCYON 400▸ 14A
Keeper's lamp
Keeper's lamp
HALCYON 400▸ 16A
Last show
Last show
HALCYON 400▸ 18A
Listening
Listening
HALCYON 400▸ 20A
Pie run
Pie run
HALCYON 400▸ 22A
The essay
The essay
HALCYON 400▸ 12A
Night road, 1:12 a.m.
Night road, 1:12 a.m.
HALCYON 400▸ 14A
Keeper's lamp
Keeper's lamp
HALCYON 400▸ 16A
Last show
Last show
HALCYON 400▸ 18A
Listening
Listening
HALCYON 400▸ 20A
Pie run
Pie run
HALCYON 400▸ 22A
The essay
The essay

Letters to the editor.

Typed, mailed and pinned to the board.

Dear Halcyon, We drove four hours to see the comet and the diner was out of pie. Worth it anyway.

June Okafor · Bend, OR

Your lighthouse issue sent my husband up a spiral staircase at sixty-one. He has not stopped talking about it.

Marg Ellis · Duluth, MN

Please print more maps. I have taped every one to my fridge and my wife is concerned.

Hal Brenner · Tucson, AZ

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From the editor

“Look up. Then write it down.”

Ruth Calder, Editor

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HALCYON

Letters to the editor

Stories worth looking up, since 1971. Seventy-five cents, or free online.

© 2026 HALCYON. A demo magazine; stories and people are fictional.

HALCYON

Letters to the editor

Stories worth looking up, since 1971. Seventy-five cents, or free online.

© 2026 HALCYON. A demo magazine; stories and people are fictional.

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