The broad band X-ray spectrum of the low-mass 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 \times 10 ^ { 36 } and 1.4 \times 10 ^ { 37 } erg s ^ { -1 } 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 turn-on in 1988 is a rather stable accretor , which is in line with the strong regularity of type I X-ray bursts .