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Description
We identify 709 arc-shaped mid-infrared nebula in 24um Spitzer Space Telescope or 22um Wide Field Infrared Explorer surveys of the Galactic Plane as probable dusty interstellar bowshocks powered by early-type stars. About 20% are visible at 8um or at shorter mid-infrared wavelengths. The vast majority (660) have no previous identification in the literature. These extended infrared sources are strongly concentrated near the Galactic mid-plane, with an angular scale height of ~0.6{deg}. All host a symmetrically placed star implicated as the source of a stellar wind sweeping up interstellar material. These are candidate "runaway" stars potentially having high velocities in the reference frame of the local medium. Among the 286 objects with measured proper motions, we find an unambiguous excess with velocity vectors aligned with the infrared morphology-kinematic evidence that many of these are "runaway" stars with large peculiar motions responsible for the bowshock signature. We discuss a population of "in situ" bowshocks (~103 objects) that face giant HII regions where the relative motions between the star and ISM may be caused by bulk outflows from an overpressured bubble. We also identify ~58 objects that face 8um bright-rimmed clouds and apparently constitute a sub-class of in situ bowshocks where the stellar wind interacts with a photoevaporative flow (PEF) from an eroding molecular cloud interface (i.e., "PEF bowshocks"). Orientations of the acurate nebulae exhibit a correlation over small angular scales, indicating that external influences such as HII regions are responsible for producing some bowshock nebulae. However, the vast majority of the nebulae in this sample appear to be isolated (499 objects) from obvious external influence
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