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At the end of Rogue One, Darth Vader watches the Tantive IV escape by jumping into hyperspace. At the start of A New Hope, Darth Vader's ship is firing lasers on the Tantive IV. So he must have been able to track it somehow to Tatooine.

In other scenes from Star Wars, Vader and the Imperial Fleet are not able to track a ship when it jumps. For example, when the Millennium Falcon jumps into hyperspace after leaving Cloud City at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Or when the Millennium Falcon jumps into hyperspace to escape the Death Star in A New Hope.

To quote General Motti from A New Hope, his sorcerer's ways obviously don't give him clairvoyance enough to track down the stolen data tapes.

So did he have extra information that allowed him to find the Tantive IV? Just as he had extra information that allowed him to find the rebel base on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.

Is there anything in the novelizations or extended universe that mentions somebody told him the Tantive IV was at Tatooine?

Edit to add: This other question asks about tracking ships through hyperspace in general. My question is whether Vader had specific knowledge about the destination of the Tantive IV. I'm assuming that ships can not be tracked after they jump, otherwise the Imperial Fleet would have found the rebel base before Episode 4.

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  • Yepp it is answered in that question already imho.
    – Thomas
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 7:35
  • I think he had a general idea of where the ship was heading to. As soon as it left hyperspace, imperial ships found it and alerted Vader of its location.
    – TimSparrow
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 10:05
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    @TimSparrow Do you have any sources which say imperial ships notified Vader of its location? If you do, please write up an answer based on those sources. :-)
    – RichS
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 2:48
  • @RichS, no, that is my guess. Haven't read Rogue One books yet. It is just a possibility.
    – TimSparrow
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 8:32
  • Why should this be re-opened? I see no change made or argument that it's not answered by the other question's answers?
    – Edlothiad
    Commented May 12, 2017 at 18:29

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