Distance to the LMC has been calculated using standard candles; Cepheid variables are one of the most popular.
These have been shown to have a relationship between their absolute luminosity and the period over which their brightness varies.
However the variable of metallicity may also need to be taken as a component of this as consensus is this likely affects their period-luminosity relations.
Unfortunately, those in the Milky Way typically used to calibrate the relation are more metal-rich than those found in the LMC.

Modern 8-meter-class optical telescopes have discovered eclipsing binaries throughout the Local Group.
Parameters of these systems can be measured without mass or compositional assumptions.
The light echoes of supernova 1987A are also geometric measurements, without any stellar models or assumptions.

In 2006, the Cepheid absolute luminosity was re-calibrated using Cepheid variables in the galaxy Messier 106 that cover a range of metallicities.
Using this improved calibration, they find an absolute distance modulus of , or 48 kpc (~157,000 light-years).
This distance has been confirmed by other authors.

By cross-correlating different measurement methods, one can bound the distance; the residual errors are now less than the estimated size parameters of the LMC.

The results of a study using late-type eclipsing binaries to determine the distance more accurately was published in the scientific journal Nature in March 2013.
A distance of 49.97 kpc (163,000 light-years) with an accuracy of 2.2% was obtained.
Distance to the LMC has been calculated using standard candles; Cepheid variables are one of the most popular. These have been shown to have a relationship between their absolute luminosity and the period over which their brightness varies. However the variable of metallicity may also need to be taken as a component of this as consensus is this likely affects their period-luminosity relations. Unfortunately, those in the Milky Way typically used to calibrate the relation are more metal-rich than those found in the LMC.
Modern 8-meter-class optical telescopes have discovered eclipsing binaries throughout the Local Group. Parameters of these systems can be measured without mass or compositional assumptions. The light echoes of supernova 1987A are also geometric measurements, without any stellar models or assumptions.
In 2006, the Cepheid absolute luminosity was re-calibrated using Cepheid variables in the galaxy Messier 106 that cover a range of metallicities. Using this improved calibration, they find an absolute distance modulus of , or 48 kpc (~157,000 light-years). This distance has been confirmed by other authors.
By cross-correlating different measurement methods, one can bound the distance; the residual errors are now less than the estimated size parameters of the LMC.
The results of a study using late-type eclipsing binaries to determine the distance more accurately was published in the scientific journal Nature in March 2013. A distance of 49.97 kpc (163,000 light-years) with an accuracy of 2.2% was obtained.
Large Magellanic Cloud