TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 13649 SUBJECT: GRB 120815A: VLT/X-shooter redshift DATE: 12/08/15 05:40:11 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), S. Schulze (PUC and MCSS), A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA/CSIC and DARK/NBI), D. Xu (WIS), V. D'Elia (INAF/Roma and ASI/ASDC), J. P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI), N. R. Tanvir (Univ. Leicester), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 120815A (Pagani et al., GCN 13645) with the VLT/X-shooter spectrograph. We confirm the presence of a bright, uncatalogued object consistent with the GROND position (Sudilovsky et al., GCN 13648). From the acquisition images, we measure R = 18.9 for the afterglow at an epoch of 1.67 hr after the GRB (calibrated to nearby USNO stars). Our spectra cover the wavelength range 3000-25000 AA, and were taken starting on 2012 Aug 15.163 UT (1.69 hr after the GRB), for a total of 40 min exposure. Continuum from the afterglow is detected with high S/N in all of the UVB, VIS, and NIR arms. The spectrum shows a wide trough and a multitude of strong absorption lines, which we interpret as due to a DLA and metal transitions of N V, S II, Si II, O I, C IV, Si IV, Fe II, Al II, Al III, Mn II, Mg II, Mg I, among others, at a common redshift z = 2.358. At the same redshift, we also detect fine-structure lines of Ni II and Fe II, thus confirming conclusively that this is the GRB redshift. We also detect intervening systems at z = 1.539, 1.693, and 2.00. In particular, the system at z = 1.539 displays exceptionally strong Mg II, Mg I, and Fe II absorption. We acknowledge the expert support of the VLT observing staff at Paranal, in particular Maja Vuckovic, Marcelo Lopez, and Thomas Rivinius. We also thank Alex Kann for discussion on the afterglow identification. [GCN OPS NOTE(15aug12): Per author's request, ML and TR were added to the last paragraph.]