NGC 2419, the Intergalactic Wanderer, or Intergalactic Tramp, in the constellation of Lynx, is a very distant globular cluster.

Located 300,000 light years away, NGC 2419 is one of the most remote globular clusters that orbit our Milky Way Galaxy. This is almost twice the distance as the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. It takes 3 billion years for NGC 2419 to orbit the Milky Way one time.

This globular cluster is called the Intergalactic Wanderer because it was once thought to be unbound gravitationally to the Milky Way. It was also considered that NGC 2419 might be the remnants of a small galaxy that was captured by the Milky Way, disrupted, and stripped of its outer stars with only the core remaining. Both of these possibilities are now considered unlikely.

NGC 2419 is intrinsically one of the brightest and most massive globular clusters that orbit our galaxy. It only appears small and faint because it is so far away. If it were as close as NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, it would be almost as spectacular. NGC 2419 is the most distant object in the Milky Way that can be viewed in moderately-sized amateur telescopes.

NGC 2419 was discovered by William Herschel in 1788.

North is to the top in the above image.

NGC 2419 Catalogs: NGC 2419, GCL 12 Common Name: Intergalactic Wanderer, Intergalactic Tramp Object Type: Globular Cluster Magnitude: 10.3v Size: 4.6' Constellation: Lynx Image Field Centered At: RA: 07h 38m 08s Dec: +38° 52' 24"