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 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 .