The Death Star caused an artificial eclipse by moving in front of Jedha's sun.
An eclipse signified an astronomical event where one celestial body was briefly hidden from view by another. Breha Organa, the Queen of Alderaan, had observed such an event on Coruscant and initially believed she was seeing another eclipse when the Death Star blocked the light of Alderaan's sun. However, instead of a simple obscuring, the planet was then subjected to destruction_of_alderaan, by order of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin as he demanded information from Princess Leia Organa Skywalker about the location of the hidden rebel base. Before this, the Death Star had replicated this scenario, eclipsing the sun of Jedha before its destruction_of_jedha_city of Jedha City as a demonstration of its power.
