  We present an optical eclipse observation of the hot Jupiter WASP-12b using
the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope.
These spectra allow us to place an upper limit of $A_g < 0.064$ (97.5%
confidence level) on the planet's white light geometric albedo across 290--570
nm. Using six wavelength bins across the same wavelength range also produces
stringent limits on the geometric albedo for all bins. However, our
uncertainties in eclipse depth are $\sim$40% greater than the Poisson limit and
may be limited by the intrinsic variability of the Sun-like host star --- the
solar luminosity is known to vary at the $10^{-4}$ level on a timescale of
minutes. We use our eclipse depth limits to test two previously suggested
atmospheric models for this planet: Mie scattering from an aluminum-oxide haze
or cloud-free Rayleigh scattering. Our stringent nondetection rules out both
models and is consistent with thermal emission plus weak Rayleigh scattering
from atomic hydrogen and helium. Our results are in stark contrast with those
for the much cooler HD 189733b, the only other hot Jupiter with spectrally
resolved reflected light observations; those data showed an increase in albedo
with decreasing wavelength. The fact that the first two exoplanets with optical
albedo spectra exhibit significant differences demonstrates the importance of
spectrally resolved reflected light observations and highlights the great
diversity among hot Jupiters.
