In A New Hope, when Alderaan is blown up by the Death Star, the destruction is instant and very explosive.
Similarly, in The Force Awakens, when Starkiller Base
fired on and destroyed Hosnian Prime (as well as a handful of smaller planets in the Hosnian system), the result was spectacularly explosive.
Now, go back in time to Rogue One.
In it, both Jedha and Scarif are destroyed by the Death Star. However, both explosions are drawn out and less instantaneous. In fact, the destruction of Jedha is so “slow” that Jyn and others even have time to escape its destruction.
I might have missed it in the movie, but is there a reason in Rogue One why
Jedha and Scarif’s explosions were more drawn out?