"Beagle Point marks the end point of a galaxy-spanning expedition undertaken by Commander Erimus Kamzel in 3301. At the time, the system was known as Ceeckia ZQ-L c24-0, but Kamzel nicknamed it Beagle Point after his beloved beagle Jack, who had passed away a short time before. One year later, the system was chosen as the final destination of the first Distant Worlds expedition, resulting in an influx of over 500 pilots in April 3302. In recognition of these events, Universal Cartographics officially renamed the system Beagle Point on the 26th of May 3302."

-- Universal Cartographics system description

Beagle Point was originally the farthest reachable system from Sol, and became a popular destination for explorers and expeditions alike. The first Distant Worlds expedition saw over 500 Commanders travel to the system in early 3302, and later expeditions (including the second Distant Worlds expedition in 3305) brought even more.

As synthesized jump boosts and engineered frame shift drives were introduced, systems farther out became reachable: today, the farthest one is Semotus Beacon, Oevasy SG-Y d0. Nevertheless, Beagle Point has remained just as important and as popular as it had before.

For more information on the history of Beagle Point and the circumstances of early exploration, visit the Galactic Mapping Project's entry on the system.

An interesting incident not mentioned in the linked entry above was when Jaques Station planned to execute a long range jump across the galaxy. The original destination would have been Beagle Point, and the mobile station was meant to permanently anchor there. Independent pilots gathered in the system, waiting to welcome the station and make it their new home out on the edge... but Jaques Station never arrived. The station was sabotaged and suffered a catastrophic misjump, and ended up near the Eol Prou nebula, in the system which would later be known as Colonia.

Image credit: Erimus Kamzel