Observations of elliptical galaxy pairs allow the study of different states of tidal interaction between galaxies. The comparison with normal elliptical galaxies directly reveals the disturbed morphological and kinematical properties. Numerical simulations have shown that with the known initial luminosity profile, the time elapsed since closest approach between two galaxies can be estimated from the radial position of the disturbances (Aguilar and White, 1986).

The two galaxy pairs Arp 166 (NGC 750/1) and 3C 278 (NGC 4782/3) considered here exhibit distorted and nonconcentric isophotes (cf. Madejsky, 1989). In Arp 166 the major relative shift of the centers of the isophotes occurs in the outer parts while in 3C 278 the nonconcentric isophotes are more pronounced in the inner parts of the galaxies, suggesting that more time ha&elapsed since the moment of closest approach in Arp 166 than in 3C 278. Furthermore, in Arp 166, both galaxies have the same radial velocity, implying that their orbital plane is perpendicular to the line of sight. In turn, the galaxies NGC 4782 and NGC 4783 are moving with a very high radial velocity difference of 680kms-1. Taking into account the location of both galaxies, which are the dominant members of a small group of about 25 galaxies (De Souza and Quintana, 1990), the true velocity difference probably is not much higher than the observed radial velocity difference. Therefore it is very likely that we are viewing at high inclination onto (i.e. nearly parallel to) the orbital plane of the galaxies NGC 4782 and 4783.