Using the definitive reductions of the IUE light curves by ( ) and an extensive set of HST images of SN 1987A we have repeated and improved our original analysis ( ) to derive a better determination of the distance to the supernova .
In this way we have obtained an absolute size of the ring R _ { \mathrm { abs } } = ( 6.23 \pm 0.08 ) \times 10 ^ { 17 } cm and an angular size R ^ { \prime \prime } = 808 \pm 17 mas , which give a distance to the supernova d ( SN 1987 A ) = 51.4 \pm 1.2 kpc and a distance modulus ( m - M ) _ { SN 1987 A } = 18.55 \pm 0.05 .
Allowing for a displacement of SN 1987A position relative to the LMC center , the distance to the barycenter of the Large Magellanic Cloud is also estimated to be d ( LMC ) = 51.7 \pm 1.3 kpc , which corresponds to a distance modulus of ( m - M ) _ { LMC } = 18.56 \pm 0.05 .