Distance to the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy using MACHO Project RR Lyrae
  stars
  We derive the distance to the northern extension of the Sagittarius (Sgr)
dwarf spheroidal galaxy from 203 Sgr RR0 Lyrae stars found in the MACHO
database. Their distances are determined differentially with respect to 288
Galactic Bulge RR0 Lyrae stars also found in the MACHO data. We find a distance
modulus difference of 2.41 mags at $l$ = 5$^{\circ}$ and $b$ = -8$^{\circ}$ and
that the extension of the Sgr galaxy towards the galactic plane is inclined
toward us. Assuming $\rm R_{GC}$ = 8 kpc, this implies the distance to these
stars is $(m-M)_0$ = 16.97 $\pm$ 0.07 mags, which corresponds to D = 24.8 $\pm$
0.8 kpc. Although this estimate is smaller than previous determinations for
this galaxy and agrees with previous suggestions that Sgr's body is truly
closer to us, this estimate is larger than studies at comparable galactic
latitudes.
