The past photometric history of the FU Ori-type young eruptive star 2MASS J06593158-0405277 = V960 Mon

The known FU Ori-type young eruptive stars are exceedingly rare (a dozen or so confirmed objects) and 2MASS J06593158-0405277, with its 2014 outburst, is likely the latest addition to the family. All members have displayed just one such eruption in their recorded history, an event lasting for decades. To test the FU Ori nature of 2MASS J06593158-0405277, we have reconstructed its photometric history by measuring its brightness on Harvard photographic plates spanning the time interval 1899-1989. No previous large amplitude eruption similar to that initiated in 2014 has been found, as in bona fide FU Ori-type objects. The median value of the brightness in quiescence of 2MASS J06593158-0405277 is B = 15.5, with the time interval 1935-1950 characterized by a large variability ( ∼ 1 mag amplitude) that contrasts with the remarkable photometric stability displayed at later epochs. The variability during 1935-1950 can either be ascribed to some T Tau like activity of 2MASS J06593158-0405277 itself or to the also young and fainter star 2MASS J06593168-0405224 that lies 5 arcsec to the North and forms an unresolved pair at the astrometric scale of Harvard photographic plates.