Submitted by Atmo_reetry t3_yyfqzi in space
triffid_hunter t1_iwtye4y wrote
If you only use the central force theorem with a single body then yeah, gravitational capture looks impossible because there's nothing to remove energy from the original hyperbolic orbit.
If you consider perturbations from eg n-body stuff or aerobraking however, it becomes quite possible ;)
Also, celestial objects don't have a hard boundary on their hill sphere, the border is very fuzzy and shifts around depending on what other bodies are doing.
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