The galactic core of the galaxy is the rotational center of the Milky Way Galaxy. It contains a supermassive black hole known as Sagitarrius A* and the Sleeping Dragon. The core is between 24,000 and 28,400 light-years from Earth.
The name "Sleeping Dragon" was due to its emitting -- approximately every two million years -- a plume of hot gases and radiation that would destroy life on all habitable planets within 200 to 20,000 light years.
In 2307, the astrophysicist Sarah Perry enlisted Captain Timothy Harper and the officers and crew of the USS Deimos in an attempt to destroy a magnetar that was on a collision course with Sagitarrius A*. The impact, she predicted, would destroy life in the galaxy 3,000 years ahead of schedule. (Starship Deimos: "Sleeping Dragon")
- It was not made clear in the film how far the Deimos and Dr. Perry's civilian science ship, the Cadmus, were from the galactic core. A guess can be made from having to travel about 17 hours at "maximum warp", but their starting point was not specified.