  The distance to NGC3982, host galaxy to the Type Ia supernova SN1998aq, is
derived using 32 Cepheids discovered in archival multi-epoch Hubble Space
Telescope observations. Employing recent Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid
period-luminosity relations and absolute zero point, we find a distance to
NGC3982 of 20.5+/-0.8(r)+/-1.7(s) Mpc, including both random (r) and systematic
(s) uncertainties, and ignoring any metallicity dependency in the Cepheid
period-luminosity relation. Still unpublished light curve photometry promises
to make SN1998aq one of the most important calibrators for the Type Ia
supernova decline rate-peak luminosity relationship.
