OGLE-2002-BLG-360 was discovered as a microlensing candidate by the OGLE-III
project. The subsequent light curve however clearly showed that the brightening
of the object could not have resulted from the gravitational microlensing
phenomenon. We aim to explain the nature of OGLE-2002-BLG-360 and its eruption
observed in 2002--2006. The observational data primarily come from the archives
of the OGLE project, which monitored the object in 2001--2009. The archives of
the MACHO and MOA projects also provided us with additional data obtained in
1995--99 and 2000--2005, respectively. These data allowed us to analyse the
light curve of the object during its eruption, as well as the potential
variability of its progenitor. In the archives of several infrared surveys,
namely 2MASS, MSX, Spitzer, AKARI, WISE, and VVV, we found measurements of the
object, which allowed us to study the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the
object. We constructed a simple model of a star surrounded by a dusty envelope,
which was used to interpret the observed SED. Our analysis of the data clearly
shows that OGLE-2002-BLG-360 was most probably a red transient, i.e. an object
similar in nature to V838 Mon, whose eruption was observed in 2002. The SED in
all phases, i.e. progenitor, eruption, and remnant, was dominated by infrared
emission, which we interpret as evidence of dust formation in an intense mass
outflow. Since 2009 the object has been completely embedded in dust. We suggest
that the progenitor of OGLE-2002-BLG-360 was a binary, which had entered the
common-envelope phase a long time (at least decades) before the observed
eruption, and that the eruption resulted from the final merger of the binary
components. We point out similarities between OGLE-2002-BLG-360 and CK Vul,
whose eruption was observed in 1670--72, and this strengthens the hypothesis
that CK Vul was also a red transient.Comment: accepted in A&
