TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 19154 SUBJECT: GRB 160303A: X-shooter spectroscopy DATE: 16/03/06 02:22:25 GMT FROM: Antonio de Ugarte Postigo at IAA-CSIC A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA-CSIC, DARK/NBI), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), T. Kruehler (MPE Garching), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), S. Schulze (PUC, MAS), J. Hjorth (DARK/NBI), N.R. Tanvir (U. Leicester) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the afterglow of GRB 160303A (Beardmore et al., GCN 19126; Butler et al., GCN 19131) with ESO’s Very Large Telescope UT2 equipped with X-shooter (Paranal Observatory, Chile). The spectra cover the range from 3000 to 18000 AA. Observations consisted of 4x1200s exposures, starting at 06:03 UT of 4 March 2016 (18.8 hr after the GRB onset). The spectrum was obtained when the GRB was at r ~ 24.1 (Klose et al. GCN 19142) and hence the S/N is rather low, implying that no absorption feature can be identified. In spite of this, a trace can be seen in the complete UVB (3000-5600AA) and VIS (5600-10100 AA) spectra. The continuum is rather blue, as already seen from multiband photometry (Butler et al., GCN 19131; Graham et al., GCN 19144). The detection of the trace down to 3000 AA implies a redshift limit of < 2.3 (considering that the Lyman break is not within the range). In spite of the deep spectrum, we have not been able to identify any emission feature, which could be indicative of a very faint galaxy and/or a non star forming galaxy (which would be expected for a SGRB). We acknowledge excellent support from the Paranal staff.