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 at considerable 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 of 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.
