We present HST Faint Object Camera ultraviolet ( \lambda = 2300 Å , 1400 Å ) images of three ultraluminous infrared galaxies ( ULIGs : L _ { ir } > 10 ^ { 12 } L _ { \odot } ) L _ { ir } \equiv L ( 8 - 1000 ~ { } \micron ) computed from the flux in all four IRAS bands according to the prescription given in Perault ( 1987 ; see also Sanders & Mirabel 1996 ) .
Throughout this paper we assume that H _ { 0 } = 75 km s ^ { -1 } Mpc ^ { -1 } and that \Omega _ { 0 } = 1 . selected from the IRAS\ / Revised Bright Galaxy Sample .
The purpose is to estimate spectral energy distributions ( SEDs ) to facilitate the identification of similar objects at high redshift in deep optical , infrared , and submillimeter surveys .
All three galaxies , VII Zw 031 ( = IRAS F05081+7936 ) , IRAS F12112+0305 , and IRAS F22491–1808 , were well detected with the F220W filter .
Two of the three were marginally detected with the F140W filter .
The fluxes , together with ground-based optical and infrared photometry , are used to compute SEDs over a wide wavelength range .
The measured SEDs drop from the optical to the ultraviolet , but the magnitude of the drop ranges from a factor of \sim 3 in IRAS F22491 - 1808 to a factor of \sim 100 in VII Zw 031 .
This is most likely due to different internal extinctions .
Such an interpretation is also suggested by extrapolating to ultraviolet wavelengths the optical internal extinction measured in VII Zw 031 . K -corrections are calculated to determine the colors of the sample galaxies as seen at high redshifts .
Galaxies like VII Zw 031 have very low observed rest-frame UV fluxes which means that such galaxies at high redshift will be extremely red or even missing in optical surveys .
On the other hand , galaxies like IRAS F12112+0305 and IRAS F22491–1808 , if seen at high redshift , would be sufficiently blue that they would not easily be distinguished from normal field galaxies , and therefore , identified as ULIGs .
The implication is then that submillimeter surveys may be the only means of properly identifying the majority of ULIGs at high redshift .