Star Wars : Why did the death Star wait so long to blow up the rebel base?

They get to Yavin then wait 20 minutes for the rebel base to come into range, giving the rebels time to blow it up. If they could travel way above the speed of light then why not just go all the way to their target instead of orbiting the big planet?

Who knows how precise the tracking device on the Millennium Falcon was? The Empire probably just knew that the base was somewhere around Yavin. Also, Tarkin was 100% sure of the invulnerability of his technological terror. What's another 20 minutes?

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I didn't like the Godfather, so what?

Space travel, particularly at those speeds, is not that simple. If they came out of hyperspace any sooner they might have gotten sucked in to the planet Yavin's gravity field and been destroyed. Something like this requires precise calculations and all that.

flying through space aint like dusting crops, boy!

The death star arrived and found the rebel base was on a moon on the other side of Yavin and travelled around the planet to get a clear shot of the rebel base. this was actually spoken in the movie, so i don't know why you need to ask about it.

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

why did it take 20 minutes for a ship capable of light speed? try reading next time.

What I've always wondered about ANH is why there were no Destroyer ships along with the Death Star.






I'll be good I swear I'll never see a movie ever again.

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What I've always wondered about ANH is why there were no Destroyer ships along with the Death Star.

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Hubris on Tarkin's part.

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I didn't like the Godfather, so what?

"The Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter any threat, or they'd have a tighter defence" - General Dodonna
they didn't think they needed any more firepower. the rebel attack must have looked like desperation.


"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

Light-speed travel in Star Wars relies on established hyperspace lanes. The lane to yavin-4 brought them out at a place where the planet was blocking the moon and had to be circumvented.

I'd wager to guess that the Death Star ran low on locomotion energy, and couldn't both move faster and fire the superlaser.