This gives them a unique evolutionary history, allows for evaluation of the overall importance of interaction and merger in elliptical galaxy formation and evolution, and provides a basis for the determination of the time scales involved in the appearance and disappearance of the signatures of galaxy merger. In addition, the combination of their morphology and isolation provides a rare opportunity to study some of the oldest stellar systems known in the universe.
Projection effects make verifying the isolation of an elliptical galaxy extremely difficult.
The relative dimness and, in some cases, sheer quantity of objects angularly close to a candidate isolated elliptical makes obtaining redshifts without the use of a multi-fiber spectrometer impractical or impossible.