Broad - band X - ray measurements of GS 1826 - 238

The broad band X-ray spectrum of the lowmass X-ray binary (LMXB) GS 1826-238 was measured with the narrow-field instruments on BeppoSAX on April 6 and 7, 1997. The spectrum is consistent with the Comptonization of a 0.6 keV thermal spectrum by a hot cloud of temperature equivalent kT = 20 keV. During the observation two type I X-ray bursts were detected. From the bursts an upper limit to the distance could be derived of 8 kpc. Combined with an elsewhere determined lower limit of 4 kpc this implies a persistent X-ray luminosity between 3.5×10 and 1.4×10 erg s which is fairly typical for a LMXB X-ray burster. The accurate determination of the energetics of the two bursts and the persistent emission confirm results with the Wide Field Cameras on BeppoSAX in a narrower bandpass (Ubertini et al. 1999). Comparison with independent X-ray measurements taken at other times indicates that GS 1826-238 since its turnon in 1988 is a rather stable accretor, which is in line with the strong regularity of type I X-ray bursts.