King, Modjaz, & Li (1999) discovered Nova 1999 in IC1613 at Lick Observatory.Both Fugazza et al. (2000) and Borissova et al. (2000) questioned thisclassification, because they were able to detect the star on images obtained inprevious years. In infrared frames taken on Oct. 15, 1998, the Nova 1999 has(J-K) = 1.14 and K = 14.69 mag. Our light curve study, based primarily on 92unfiltered Lick images, suggested that the object could be a Mira-type variablewith a period of 640.7 days. This period is very close to that obtained byFugazza et al. (2000) - 631 days. The star is overluminous with respect to theperiod-luminosity (PL) relation derived by Feast et al. (1989) for Miravariables in the LMC. At longer periods (P > 400 ~ days), many LMC Miras showsuch behavior and the PL relation appears to break down. It is possible thatthe situation in IC1613 is similar. An optical spectrum obtained with theKeck-II telescope shows features typical of M3Ie or M3IIIe stars. We concludethat the star is a normal long-period M-type Mira variable, the first such starconfirmed in IC1613.
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