It would seem that we stand on the cusp of being able to precisely measure the distance of powerful bursts of energy, such as a nova.
I recall a few years ago that a burst of radiation from supernova SN1987A was preceded by a burst of neutrinos three hours before the radiation.
It follows that if we can produce a source of radiation emission such as that created by the OPERA international experiment, then we can calibrate the exact amount of time it takes light and neutrinos to get from point A to point B,
By calculating the time delay between light and neutrinos, we would know with considerable exactness the distance if a given emission.
Addendum:
I went to Bautforum.com and one of the brighter members had this to say, "If the 20ppm difference detected by CERN is true, then SN1987a was ~18ly away by this method.
First thing I did when I saw the first thread here was actually run the numbers. At 160000ly, the neutrino burst should have arrived 3 years beforehand..."
There are few easy answers in science, and this ain't one of 'em.
