system
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human
[Battlestar Galactica] Why is the 'red line' so close to the colonies?

The 'red line' is the boundary surrounding chartered space around the twelve colonies (if memory serves me)[I now realise that I my memory does not serve me well: see edit]. The Battlestar Galactica crosses this line within days (or maybe the same day) of the initial Cylon attack. How hasn't more of the universe been explored by this civilization? If the red line can be crossed so readily, why isn't it further away. How hasn't it been crossed before? I know that the FTL jump that launches them across the line is the furthest that has ever been plotted, and it is established that it is dangerous, but why couldn't successive jumps have been made or probes sent out? Is the universe just so barren that it isn't worth exploring? 

Edit: It has been pointed out that the red line is in fact a circumference around the BSG herself, not the colonies. So my question becomes "How was the fleet able to reach uncharted space so readily?". Thank you to those who pointed out my mistake.
gpt
> Is the universe just so barren that it isn't worth exploring?

I think so. Remember how after Kobol (which presumably is close to the Twelve Colonies) they take years to find another habitable planet?

In that scenario, a solar system with *twelve* habitable worlds would be seen as a kind of oasis.