A ROSAT HRI X-ray image was obtained of the open globular cluster NGC 288 , which is located near the South Galactic Pole .
This is the first deep X-ray image of this system .
We detect a Low Luminosity Globular Cluster X-ray source ( LLGCX ) RXJ005245.0 - 263449 with an X-ray luminosity of ( 5.5 \pm 1.4 ) \times 10 ^ { 32 } ergs s ^ { -1 } ( 0.1–2.0 keV ) , which is located very close to the cluster center .
There is evidence for X-ray variability on a time scale of \lesssim 1 day .
The presence of this LLGCX in such an open cluster suggests that dense stellar systems with high interaction rates are not needed to form LLGCXs .
We also searched for diffuse X-ray emission from NGC 288 .
Upper limits on the X-ray luminosities are L _ { X } ^ { h } < 9.5 \times 10 ^ { 32 } ergs s ^ { -1 } ( 0.52–2.02 keV ) and L _ { X } ^ { s } < 9.3 \times 10 ^ { 32 } ergs s ^ { -1 } ( 0.11–0.41 keV ) .
These imply upper limits to the diffuse X-ray to optical light ratios in NGC 288 which are lower than the values observed for X-ray faint early-type galaxies .
This indicates that the soft X-ray emission in these galaxies is due either to a component which is not present in globular clusters ( e.g. , interstellar gas , or a stellar component which is not found in low metallicity Population II systems ) , or to a relatively small number of bright Low Mass X-ray Binaries ( LMXBs ) .