STAR WARS

That's no moon

When our 'heroes' emerge from hyperspace we get several suspicious examples of Kenobi's keen sense of 'observation'. When we get the news that Alderaan is blown away he turns and looks directly at Luke (look away Luke!) and says, "Destroyed... by the Empire!" Han then notes that there's a ship coming in. Before the ship is visible, Kenobi blurt's out, "It's an Imperial fighter". In theory he got his information from the computer readouts but he was able to 'interpret' it faster than Han (really?). At Luke's suggestion that the ship followed them, Kenobi is again quick with an answer proclaiming, "No. It's a short-range fighter". When the "small moon" is sighted it's Kenobi who announces, "That's no moon! It's a space station".

How does he know all of this? Still think Kenobi spent all his time twiddling his thumbs on Tatooine? He is no doubt in communication with Rebel contacts somehow.

Interestingly, Ben's the one who comes up with the idea to hide, offering, "there are alternatives to fighting". This may explain Vader's remarks here:

Far from being a 'psychic' impression, I think Vader is subconciously noting Kenobi's 'style'. Being attuned to this kind of mental 'indexing' is thought by some to be the source of 'sixth sense' kinds of awareness. It's easy to believe that Jedi Force training that builds on innate ability in such areas can produce 'masters' with seemingly mystical powers. Without resorting to mysticism to explain them.