the large magellanic cloud and the distance scale

the magellanic clouds, especially the large magellanic cloud, are places where multiple distance indicators can be compared with each other in a straight-forward manner atconsiderable precision. we here review the distances derived from cepheids, red variables, rr lyraes, red clump stars and eclipsing binaries, and show that the results from these distance indicators generally agree to within their errors, and the distance modulus to the large magellanic cloud appears to be defined to ±3% with a mean value (m − m)₀ = 18.48 mag, corresponding to 49.7 kpc. the utility of the magellanic clouds in constructing and testing the distance scale will remain as we move into the era of gaia.