Young stellar nuclei in the lenticular galaxies. II. NGC 7280

We have undertaken bidimensional spectroscopy of the central part of the ne arby lenticular galaxy NGC 7280 with the Multi-Pupil Fiber Spectrograph of the 6 m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. We find a rathe r young stellar nucleus, with a mean population age of 1.5 +/- 0.5 Gyr, whi ch is more metal-rich than the bulge at R approximate to 1 kpc by an order of magnitude. The chemically and age-decoupled nucleus seems to be spatiall y resolved: the circumnuclear absorption index isolines represent ellipses elongated in P.A. approximate to 100 degrees-110 degrees. The same orientat ion, P.A. = 103 degrees, is found for the elongated circumnuclear stellar s tructure, revealed from the morphological analysis of the Hubble Space Tele scope (HST) WFPC2 and NICMOS images of NGC 7280 and seen best of all at R = 1 ". Taking into account the stellar kinematics inside R approximate to 2 ", we conclude that this structure is a circumnuclear stellar disk inclined with respect to the global plane of the galaxy. Meanwhile, both photometri c and kinematical data in the radius range 2 "-8 " imply the existence of a n intermediate-scale bar elongated in P.A. approximate to 60 degrees. The c ircumnuclear ionized gas is distributed and rotates in the plane orthogonal to the plane of the circumnuclear stellar disk.