The distance to the Magellanic Clouds

The distance to the LMC and SMC is a subject of controversy, with the diffe rence between the extreme values in distance moduli exceeding 0.5 mag. Whil e currently the best calibrated method is based on red clump giants, and th e near future improvement is most likely to come from detached eclipsing bi naries, the ultimate goal is to have a purely geometrical determination. Th e best prospect will be to use relatively wide binary stars, for which spec troscopic orbits will be obtained with large ground based telescopes, and a strometric orbits will be obtained either with SIM, or with future ground b ased interferometers. A preliminary list of 25 candidate systems is present ed. It is based on OGLE catalogs of BVI photometry.