In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker appears to arbitrarily land within walking distance of Yoda’s hut on Dagobah. The remote planet of swamps and forests has a diameter of 8,954 miles (larger than Earth), meaning the odds of successfully locating Yoda without prior knowledge of the Jedi Master’s whereabouts are highly unlikely. Of course, the Force could have guided Luke, but there are other explanations for this seemingly random Dagobah landing supported by alternative Star Wars media.
At the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker is stranded in a blizzard on the ice planet Hoth when the Force spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears and orders Luke to the Dagobah system, where he will learn from Jedi Master Yoda. Obi-Wan provides no further details regarding Yoda’s location, and Luke picks up no cities or technology upon entering Dagobah’s atmosphere. Luke does, however, pick up massive life form readings, but it’s unlikely Yoda lives in the only location with living creatures, meaning Luke probably has no idea where to land. The Force has guided Luke before, most notably in the final scene of A New Hope when he fires his torpedoes into the ventilation shaft without computer assistance, but he doesn't appear to be using the Force to navigate Dagobah. However, Luke is not alone in his X-wing.
R2-D2 accompanies Luke Skywalker in his journey to the Dagobah system, and the prequel trilogy and other Star Wars canon material reveals R2-D2 and Yoda crossed paths prior to their meeting on Dagobah, most notably at the birth of Luke and Leia. Although it may not appear Yoda recognizes R2-D2 on Dagobah, the canon anthology book From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back confirms he does. Retelling the events on Dagobah from Yoda’s perspective, the book notes R2-D2’s “appearance and familiar blips were still quite recognizable” to the Jedi Master. Perhaps R2-D2 knew where Yoda lived and guided Luke’s X-wing to the correct location; after all, X-wing starfighters do use astromech droids instead of dedicated navigational systems. However, there remains one variable that could have played a significant role in the landing.
Citing Luke Skywalker's impatience, Jedi Master Yoda informs Obi-Wan Kenobi he cannot train the boy. From this correspondence one can infer Yoda knew of Luke’s arrival and its purpose in advance; thus, it’s reasonable to assume Yoda could have guided Luke to the correct location. The scopes of Luke’s X-wing go dead upon entering Dagobah’s atmosphere shortly before he crash-lands in the swamp. These malfunctions don’t occur during Luke’s descent into Dagobah in Return of the Jedi, which supports the theory that the malfunctions could have been a result of Yoda using the Force to pull the X-wing out of the sky upon its first arrival. The prequel trilogy demonstrates Yoda’s ability to manipulate large, heavy objects moving at great speeds. Moreover, Yoda would have undoubtedly ensured a safe landing, which could explain how the X-wing remains relatively undamaged.
After his first trip in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke visits Dagobah again in Return of the Jedi and in the “Legends” Thrawn novels. Although no longer considered canon upon Disney’s acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, the “Legends” Thrawn novels include a passage in which Luke notes the oddity of his sensors totally failing on his first approach. This leads Luke to the conclusion that, perhaps, Yoda suppressed the X-wing’s instruments in order to unsuspectingly guide him to the proper landing site. Yoda is capable of such a feat because he has an ally in the Force, and a powerful ally it is.
