Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser The Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser was the type of superlaser used on the Death Stars . Description . The first Death Star ' s superlaser had eight tributary beam s arranged in a circle around the concave dish . The second Death Star ' s superlaser had seven tributary beams arranged around the concave dish in a heptagonal array encompassed by a circle , and an eighth beam in the middle . These beams would then combine to form the main superlaser by the usage of an invisible forcefield in the shape of a cone . The tributary beams were themselves composed of eight smaller beams , which converged in one of the eight Superlaser Convergence Chambers , totaling 64 beam tubes . At the absolute center of the concave dish superlaser were focusing lens that allowed for the superlaser to be intensified . Originally , the Death Star ' s superlaser could only fire at planets and required hours to recharge the superlaser . By the time the Death Star II was built , the superlaser was able to fire on large capital ships and required a much lower recharge time , a matter of minutes . The power source of the laser were special power crystals that the 501st Legion took from Mygeeto on the orders of Darth Sidious . In addition , activation of the Death Star ' s superlaser was particularly costly to Imperial military , both in terms of finances as well as losing any potential strategic resources in a habitable or resource - rich planet , and thus various restrictions were put into place for the use of the superlaser : A full and current Imperial Intelligence report on a target is required before activating the superlaser ; targeting even listed worlds without the explicit authorization of Imperial High Command and the Galactic Emperor is explicitly forbidden ; and only personnel with oversector administrative rank and current firing codes provided by the Office of the Emperor were authorized with activating the superlaser . History . The first full - scale superlaser was installed in the first Death Star battlestation , becoming its primary weapon . However , it ran into technical difficulties during its development , resulting in the proposition and potential development of the Composite Beam Superlaser as an alternative in the event that the Concave Dish ' s technical difficulties were far too severe to allow for creation . This weapon had to be manually moved into position by a mechanical arm , and fired proton beams at the targeted planet to rupture the planet ' s core and render it uninhabitable . Eventually , the Concave Model was chosen for the final design for the superlaser weapon , beating out the Composite Beam Superlaser regular model while a weapons researcher oversaw development in Bevel Lemelisk ' s stead . At some point during its development , there had been plans to incorporate the Superlaser on the equator of the battlestation . In 2 BBY , Galen Marek traveled through one of the firing tubes in the superlaser dish during the Battle on Death Star I , causing structural damage in the process . During this time , the Imperials were also conducting several test fires at one - minute intervals , forcing Marek to hide from the superlaser when it was fired , and also killing several Imperials unlucky enough to get caught in the blasts during their search for Marek . The full - scale superlaser was built in the first Death Star and was used six times — it was first used during a Rebel raid on the Death Star , when Rebel agent X2 used the yet - unfinished superlaser to destroy one of the escorting Star Destroyers , then it was fired once with four percent power to destroy the " Fortressa " , a " Lucrehulk " - class battleship under Rebel control , three shots were fired as a secret test shortly after , to destroy the prison planet Despayre , and another shot with full power to destroy Alderaan and demonstrate the Galactic Empire ' s strength . This immense power made the Death Star one of the most powerful weapons in the history of the galaxy . However , before it could fire a seventh time at the Rebel Alliance base on Yavin 4 , it was destroyed at the Battle of Yavin . An improved version was built alongside the Death Star II , which had been responsible for destroying the " Liberty " and the bulk cruiser " Urjani " . However , because of the Rebel Fleet forcing various ships within Death Squadron into a broadside battle , it wasn ' t able to show much use by that point . It was also intended to be used to destroy Endor in the event that the Rebels successfully destroyed the shield generator , although the Death Star II , alongside the concave dish composite beam superlaser , ended up destroyed before it could get a chance to do so . Behind the scenes . In the StarWars Blu - ray special edition collection section both the first and second Death Star ' s Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser area are called the " Laser eye . " It was also originally planned to be in the middle of the Equatorial trench , as seen in the plans .