TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 12258 SUBJECT: GRB 110808A: VLT/X-shooter spectroscopy DATE: 11/08/08 11:04:03 GMT FROM: Antonio Deugarte at IAA-CSIC A. de Ugarte Postigo, J. P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI), P. Jakobsson (U. Iceland), B. Milvang-Jensen (ESO, DARK/NBI), A. Melandri (INAF-OABr), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), S. Schulze (U. Iceland), P. Goldoni (APC/Univ. Paris 7 and SAp/CEA), N. R. Tanvir (U. Leicester), H. Flores (Paris Obs.), K. Wiersema (U. Leicester), S. Covino (INAF-OABr), L. Lovisi, B. Lanzoni (U. Bologna) report on behalf of the X-shooter GRB collaboration: We observed the afterglow of GRB 110808A (Stratta et al. GCN 12256) with the ESO VLT equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph on 8 August 2011, beginning 09:19 UT (3 hr after the GRB). The acquisition image shows the UVOT optical afterglow candidate to have R ~ 21.2 mag. We detect several emission lines, including [O II], [O III] and H-alpha at a common redshift of z = 1.348 (based on archival calibration frames). At the same redshift we detect the Mg II doublet and Fe transitions in absorption. We acknowledge the support of the VLT staff, in particular Claudio Melo.