i recently thought about such a system
it would be nice if you could activate some kind of "Filter" in your cockpit, that makes the sky basically clickable, or shows information on mouse-over etc.
include the ability to set a waypoint and maybe get more information about the object
I would love to be able to do that, the amount of times I see a star and think where's that, go to the galaxy map and try to cross-reference by using nebulas (etc.), and/or clicking on random stars just to get an idea of a direction and hope I strike it lucky, is somewhat annoying at times. But I get over it.
Perhaps FD could implement a separate navigation module which you activate from a weapon hardpoint, with different class modules for different ranges (50 or 100LY max perhaps). Basically it would tell you the name and distance to the object, and be able to plot a route. For other info you'd go to the galaxy map.
I know that FD are thinking of making exploration dull (IMO) by implementing scanner probes, but I think I would prefer to use a module similar to this for simple navigation and exploration rather than wade through the galaxy map.