We present Chandra observations of the young elliptical galaxy NGC 1700 .
The X-ray isophotes are highly flattened between semimajor axes of 30 \arcsec and 80 \arcsec , reaching a maximum ellipticity \epsilon _ { X } \approx 0.65 at 60 \arcsec ( 15 \mbox { $ kpc$ } ) .
The surface brightness profile in the spectrally soft , flattened region is shallower than that of the starlight , indicating that the emission comes from hot gas rather than stellar sources .
The flattening is so extreme that the gas can not be in hydrostatic equilibrium in any plausible potential .
A likely alternative is that the gas has significant rotational support .
A simple model , representing isothermal gas distributed about a particular angular momentum , can reproduce the X-ray morphology while staying consistent with stellar kinematics .
The specific angular momentum of the gas matches that of the stars in the most isophotally distorted outer part of the galaxy , and its cooling time matches the time since the last major merger .
We infer that the gas was acquired in that merger , which involved a pre-existing elliptical galaxy with a hot ISM .
The hot gas carried the angular momentum of the encounter , and has since gradually settled into a rotationally flattened , cooling disk .