ROSAT HRI observations of the local group galaxies IC 10, NGC 147 and NGC 185

We report on pointed X-ray observations of IC 10, NGC 147 and NGC 185 made with the ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI). These are three Local Group galaxies that have never been previously studied in detail in the X-ray regime. IC 10 is the closest starburst galaxy to our own Galaxy, and NGC 147 and NGC 185 are companions to M31. We have discovered a variable X-ray source coincident with IC 10. The source is located near the centre of a large, non-thermal bubble of radio emission, and it is positionally coincident with an emission-line star in IC 10 which has been classified as a WN-type Wolf-Rayet star. We demonstrate that a confusing foreground or background source is improbable. The X-ray source is probably an X-ray binary in IC 10, and it may be a Wolf-Rayet + black hole binary. The source has mean and maximum 0.1-2.5 keV isotropic luminosities of about 2 and 4 x 10(38) erg s(-1), respectively. We do not detect any sources in the central regions of NGC 147 or NGC 185. We place upper limits on their central X-ray emission, and we list all X-ray sources coincident with their outer extents. We also present the first X-ray detections of the well-studied Algol-type binary TV Gas and the W UMa-type binary BH Gas, which were both serendipitously observed during our IC 10 pointing.