The Refuge System, originally designated KCR-125-06-D, was a K8 star with several planets, locked in distant orbit of the much larger A-class star KCR-125-06-A.
Its outer planets were destroyed when the star was caught in its larger neighbor's gravitational field, but its second planet actually remained habitable to humans. When the colony ship Calvin's Hope had to be redirected after its originally destination, Calvin III, became uninhabitable, its crew turned to Refuge II and named it Sanctuary[1]. (DF)
Many centuries later, the Refuge System and the Sanctuary colony, now home to more than two billion people, were rediscovered by the People's Republic of Haven thanks to a nearby wormhole. Refuge soon became home to Bolthole, the Republic's most important weapons development complex. (DF)
It was hidden from the rest of the galaxy by the heavy concentrations of dust that obscured it. (CS4)