| Abstract | We present results of a CCD-based survey for RR Lyraes in various regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This first study is part of a long- term programme which aims to use RR Lyraes to map the distribution and kinematics of the oldest stellar population in the LMC. Our data cover a 15 X 15 arcmin^2^ field in the vicinity of the LMC globular NGC 2210. We have identified 44 moderate-amplitude variable stars, of which 31 were known from the previous surveys summarized by Hazen & Nemec. Our field of view includes a further eight stars from the latter survey, only one of which - a low-amplitude variable near the cluster centre - is confirmed as variable by our observations. At least 27 of the variables are RR Lyraes, the majority of which clearly are associated with NGC 2210. The mean magnitude of the RR Lyraes most distant from the cluster centre, which we suggest as likely LMC members, is 0.1 mag fainter than that of the cluster variables. If the field stars have the same mean abundance as NGC 2210, this implies that the cluster is ~2 kpc in front of the LMC, and, allowing for the tilt of the LMC as a whole, we derive a distance modulus of 18.3 to 18.5 to the centre of the Bar of the LMC. |
