The first four-color photometric investigation of the W UMa type contact binary V868 Monocerotis

The first four-color light-curves of V868 Monocerotis in the B, V, R_c, and I_c bands are presented and analyzed by using the 2013 version of the Wilson-Devinney method. It is discovered that V868 Mon is an A-subtype contact binary (f = 58.9%), with a large temperature difference of 916 K between the two components. Using the eight new data of the times of light minimum determined by the authors together with those collected from literature, the authors found that the general trend of the observed-calculated (O - C) curve shows an upward parabolic variation that corresponds to a long-term increase in the orbital period at a rate of dP/dt = 9.38 × 10^-7 d yr^-1. The continuous increase may be caused by a mass transfer from the less massive component to the more massive one.