UPPER LIMIT TO THE DISTANCE TO THE LARGE-MAGELLANIC-CLOUD

We remeasure the ''light echo'' times to the near and far side of the ring around SN 1987A using the method of Gould and the new reductions of the original UV spectra by Sonneborn et al. Under the assumption th at the ring is circular, we obtain an upper limit to the distance to t he Large Magellanic Cloud mu(LMC) < 18.37 +/- 0.04. This result is ver y close to Could's original value and contradicts claims that the new spectra measurements lead to a significant increase in the distance es timate and a substantial increase in the statistical errors. We presen t new evidence (partly provided by A. P. S. Crotts) that the ring is i ntrinsically elliptical with axis ratio b/a similar to 0.95. For an el liptical ring, mu(LMC) < 18.44 +/- 0.05. We elaborate on Could's origi nal argument that the upper limit is robust, i.e., that it is only wea kly sensitive to unmodeled aspects of the ring such as its hydrodynami c properties and ionization history.