The Novolek Beacon was a pulsar star located in the Periphery between Nwarcol Point, Sriluur and Sedri. It was a trans-dimensional energy streamer, sending out pulses of radiation, heat and matter. Gravitational, multidimensional, curves passed through the star, creating a massive hyperspace shadow. The star did not have the mass to cause a collapse into a singularity. A strange phenomenon called the Ei'shuun Aa Effect caused fragments of stellar plasma to break off from the Beacon, dragging disproportionate hyperspace shadows, at unpredictable intervals. Further, subspace itself was distorted. To the protected natural eye, however, the star was merely a typical particle fountain. Every 28 days, 12 hours and 42 minutes the star flared, though the flare itself might have lasted a few minutes up to as much as two days.
The Beacon was discovered by the Hutts when they first explored this region of space, before the rise of the Old Republic, in approximately 25,100 BBY. By the Galactic Civil War, the Hutts had attempted numerous unsuccessful schemes to destroy the pulsar. The star had been blamed for numerous transport delays and lost smuggling cargoes by their employees. Moreover, pirates could hide in the Novolek system, knowing that their prey could not signal for assistance.
In 3 ABY the most recent attempt was being researched by scientists at the behest of Durga the Hutt. Mal Biron, an operative of Black Sun, placed a comsat at the Beacon around the same time as the end point of a race designed to determine the most skilled potential operatives for his boss, Sprax. Among the competitors were Nabrun Leids, Elis Helrot, Kal'Falnl C'ndros, Rycar Ryjerd and the pirate Morturr Heth, masquerading as Az-Iban.