  Following its 2002 February eruption, V838 Mon developed a light echo that
continues to expand and evolve as light from the outburst scatters off
progressively more distant circumstellar and/or interstellar material.
Multi-filter images of the light echo, obtained with the South African
Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) 1.0-m telescope between 2002 May and 2004
December, are analysed and made available electronically. The expansion of the
light echo is measured from the images and the data compared with models for
scattering by a thin sheet and a thin shell of dust. From these model results
we infer that the dust is likely in the form of a thin sheet distant from the
star, suggesting that the material is of interstellar origin, rather than being
from earlier stages in the star's evolution. Although the fit is uncertain, we
derive a stellar distance of ~ 9 kpc and a star-dust distance of ~ 5 pc, in
good agreement with recent results reported from other methods. We also present
JHKL and Cousins UBVRI photometry obtained at the SAAO during the star's
second, third and fourth observing seasons post-outburst. These data show
complex infrared colour behaviour while V838 Mon is slowly brightening in the
optical.
