Van den Bergh 142 is a column of dust (dark nebula) located near the center of the large star cluster with emission nebula, IC 1396 in the constellation Cepheus.

This complex is located near colorful "Hershal's Garnet Star" Mu Cephei. The dust obscures the background emission nebula and stars. Under good skies, the emission nebula IC 1396 is visible with the neked eye, or binoculars.

The image at left represents a total of 820 minutes of imaging time. 180 minutes of Ha, 320 minutes of O-III and 320 minutes of S-II. This version was "mapped" with S-II as Red, Ha as Green and O-III as blue (Hubble palette).