Cursor functionality for centered crosshairs, or line trace to overlapping objects

I’ve got an outer space view and multiple objects over which the center-screen crosshairs can pass. Hovering over them with the mouse pointer is no problem, but I really want to treat the crosshairs as a kind of spaceship targeting system. Meaning, I like the option to use the mouse pointer, but also want to be able to use no mouse at all in some cases. So, right now, as soon as I move the mouse pointer over any of the actor/objects floating around in space, I get exactly what I’m after: the desired meshes change texture/color, some data appears, and it’s 100% clean and responsive no matter how jumbled the objects on screen.

I should add, I’ve seen other questions where people are asking if they can simply freeze the mouse pointer to the center of the screen, replace the arrow with a crosshairs, and voila. But many of them feel the available solutions seem a bit inelegant. I tend to agree. I don’t want a tick function constantly locking the mouse in place.

So, I tried using a line trace from the crosshairs to get the same effect. It’s working in some cases perfectly well, but as soon as the trace passes over a nest of objects that have all spawned close together it starts selecting several of them at a time.

Please excuse the length, but based on that, two brief questions:

  1. Is it possible to get “hover over” functionality for center-screen locked crosshairs, identical to the way the mouse cursor performs, without actually locking the mouse cursor?

  2. Alternatively, any suggestions to clean up line trace functionality so that it gracefully handles objects that are packed somewhat too close for comfort?

Many thanks!