The Skull and Crossbones nebula is one of the loneliest ones: there are no others for many thousands of light-years. In this region, even planetary nebulae are few and far between.

Historically, the Skull and Crossbones nebula has not been a popular destination either. While the nebula itself is easy enough to reach, anyone who might have wished to continue farther South-East and cross over to the Outer Arm would find that the stars in the gap are too sparse to do that. They would have to make a detour of over ten thousand light-years down the arm's edge in order to reach the other galactic arm.
However, once jump ranges have improved drastically, crossing the gap has become possible, if somewhat arduous. There are several possible "bridges" Commanders can take, with the longest being the one South-East from this nebula. That is the most difficult crossing a Commander can make in the galaxy.
(Of course, fleet carriers can traverse the gap without any difficulty.)

There are several catalogue systems in and around the Skull and Crossbones nebula, with the most being from the 2MASS catalogue. An abundance of luminous stars make it stand out in the sky for quite a distance. There are some black holes too, which are quite the rarity in this part of the galaxy.

As of the time of writing (3309. June) there are no permanently anchored fleet carriers near the nebula either. The nearest permanent settlement, Hell Port in the Seagull nebula, is over ten thousand light-years away. Out here, Commanders are truly on their own.