Arcuate mid-infrared nebulae known as stellar bow shock nebulae (SBNe) have been previously hypothesized to be supported by the strong stellar winds and/or luminosity of massive early-type stars. We present an optical spectroscopic survey of 84 stars identified from mid-infrared images as candidate SBN-supporting stars. Eighty-one of 84sources, 96%, are O or early-B spectral types. K-band luminosities for a larger sample of 289 stars at the centers of bow shock nebulae are overwhelmingly consistent with OB stars. This affirms both that SBNe are supported by massive stars and that arcuate mid-infrared nebulae are reliable indicators of the presence of a massive star. The radial velocity dispersions of these systems and detections of double-lined systems indicate that at least 27 of the 74 systems with multiple observations (>36%) are candidate multiple-star systems. This rate is consistent with observed multiplicity rates of field OB stars detected with similar radial velocity surveys and lower than, but not inconsistent with, the multiplicity rates of OB stars in clusters and associations.

先前假设弓形中红外星云被称为恒星弓激波星云（SBNe），由强大的恒星风和/或大型早型恒星的光度来支持。我们提出了从中红外图像中识别为候选SBN支持恒星的84颗恒星的光学光谱调查。84个源中的81个（占96％）是O或B早期频谱类型。ķ弓激波星云中心较大的289个恒星样本的全波段光度与OB恒星绝大多数一致。这肯定了SBNe受到大质量恒星的支持，而且弧形的中红外星云是存在大质量恒星的可靠指示。这些系统的径向速度分散和双线系统的检测表明，在74个具有多个观测值（> 36％）的系统中，至少有27个是候选多星系统。该比率与通过类似的径向速度测量所观测到的实地OB星的多重率一致，并且低于但并不与星团和协会中的OB星的多重率一致。