TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 14493 SUBJECT: GRB 130427B: Tentative VLT/X-shooter redshift DATE: 13/04/28 18:13:02 GMT FROM: Dong Xu at DARK/NBI H. Flores (GEPI/Obs. de Paris), S. Covino (INAF), A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA-CSIC, DARK/NBI), J. Fynbo, T. Kruehler, D. Xu (DARK/NBI) and N. Tanvir (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the X-Shooter GRB collaboration: We have observed the afterglow of the GRB 130427B (Maselli et al., GCN 14460) with the ESO VLT equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph. The observation started on 2013-04-28 at 9:45 UT. A total exposure of 2x600 s was obtained just before morning twilight, covering the spectral range from 300 to 2500 nm. In the spectrum we detect a feature consistent with a damped Lyman-alpha line in the UVB arm at redshift of z=2.78 +/- 0.02. Given the low S/N of the spectrum, this redshift measurement should be considered tentative. We thank the Paranal staff for enthusiastic support, in particular Andrea Mehner and Christophe Martayan.