Like everyone else who has tried to look for it, I have tried and then despaired at finding this elusive beacon. The star VY Can Maj is so large, that the beacon has had to be placed quite far away from the star - and since beacons only show up when they're less than 1000 Ls away, searching for it by flying around randomly is like searching for something in a darkened room with a laser pointer as your only lightsource.
But now, help is at hand! Thanks to information posted by Ray "Stingray" Robertson in
this bug report thread, we can now offer a definitive guide to finding Gargantuan.
The beacon is situated at a point 7020 Ls away from VY Canis Majoris, and (currently) 13157 Ls away from the small Y-class secondary star, the only other object in the system. Unfortunately, these two measurements actually define a circle in space, rather than a "point". So, if you like doing things the hard way, you can do what I just did to find the beacon, and fly to a point at those distances and then slowly fly around the circle, keeping those distances constant, until you eventually get in range of the beacon. It should take you a quarter to a half hour to do this.
However, if you're not the masochistic sort, here's another way.
Prior to 2.2, the point at which you arrives at a star was random. Now, with 2.2, it is constant: if you jump into the system from a certain star, you will always arrive at the exact same place relative to the star and to other fixed navpoints around that star - such as tourist beacons.
FD have not placed the beacon in a "logical" place, such as in a direct line from Sol. They have, in fact, placed the beacon almost in a direct line coming from the Orion Nebula/Barnards Loop region. So, here's how I suggest you find it.
- Jump to the system "Col 132 Sector WD-N B9-1". It's a red dwarf, 15.5 LY away from VY Can Maj, in the approximate direction of Barnards Loop.
- Once there, jump to VY Canis Majoris. Throttle to zero before you arrive, so you come to a dead stop ASAP. You are now in a fixed, predetermined location in the VY Can Maj system, about 5900 Ls away from the giant star.
- Turn your ship around roughly 180 degrees; with the star directly behind you (without a rear-view mirror, you'll have to use the supercruise radar), you should now be pointing more or less directly at the Barnard's Loop cluster of nebulae.
- Aim your ship in this general direction:
http://i.imgur.com/085fpL1.jpg
If you have trouble figuring out which way this is, then select the star "Col 132 Sector DQ-X d1-46" on the galaxy map (it's a type A star about 77 LY away from VY Can Maj - you won't be jumping to that system, you're just using it as a navigational aid). Point your ship right at that star (there is some tolerance, but not much) and start supercruising out.
- Fly out to about 7000 Ls from VY Can Min. Keep an eye on your navigation tab and be ready to hit the brakes when the "Gargantuan" beacon appears.
This is a somewhat convoluted method, but it is scientifically repeatable.
