Sh2-88/LBN 139 is a small nebula in Vulpecula about 2.4 kpc (7,800 light-years) distant. It contains at least three separate star-forming regions in its about 1 minute diameter. To its west is a larger mostly reflection nebula, at least in my red starved image, around 10th magnitude GSC 02143-01279. SIMBAD shows no identifier for this nebula. I found an amateur who says Sh2-88 is LBN 138 and the mystery reflection nebula is LBN 137 but both NED and SIMBAD point to rather obscure nebulae further west for these with LBN 139 being Sh2-88. All appear to be part of the Vulpecula OB1 association. Other than this I found little on the field.

Transparency decreased steadily as I was taking the color data with the blue channel having clear skies but decreasing greatly by the time the last red frame was taken, (blue-green-red) was the order. I had to do a lot of compensation so the colors are rather suspect. Most images show Sh2-88 as nearly all H alpha pink rather than only the center in my image with the rest blue. But they were listed as being H alpha for the luminance channel so they didn't pick up much of the reflection part. Those show the mystery nebula as rather white rather than blue. I have it down to retake the color data to verify my LRGB data. I suspect it is far too blue. Considering the weather I doubt I'll get to it for a while, unfortunately. Besides I can't even get to it until July.

For those wanting to read more about the star-forming regions and more in Sh2-88 see:
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?2000A%26A...360.1107D&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1

See my entry for SH2-88 for a much better image of this field.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME