Pictor A (PKS 0518−45): From Nucleus to Lobes

We present radio and optical imaging and kinematic data for the radio galaxyPictor A, including HST continuum and [OIII], emission-line images (at aresolution of 25 - 100 mas) and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy (at aresolution of ~ 1.5". The radio data include 3 cm Australia Telescope images ofthe core, at a resolution comparable to that of the optical, ground-basedimages, and a VLBI image of a jet in the compact core (at a resolution of 2 -25 mas), which seems to align with a continuum ``jet'' found in the HST images.The core radio jet, the HST optical continuum ``jet'', and the NW H-alphafilaments all appear to point toward the optical-synchrotron hot-spot in the NWlobe of this object and are associated with a disrupted velocity field in theextended ionized gas. The ground-based spectra which cover this trajectory alsoyield line ratios for the ionized gas which have anomalously low [NII] (6564),suggesting either a complex, clumpy structure in the gas with a highercloud-covering factor at larger radii and with denser clouds than is found inthe nuclear regions of most NLRG and Seyfert 2 galaxies, or some other,unmodeled, mechanism for the emergent spectrum from this region. The H-alphaemission-line filaments to the N appear to be associated with a 3 cm radiocontinuum knot which lies in a gap in the filaments ~ 4" from the nucleus.Altogether, the data in this paper provide good circumstantial evidence fornon-disruptive redirection of a radio jet by interstellar gas clouds in thehost galaxy.Comment: 19 pages, 6 ps.gz fig pages, to appear in the Ap.J. Supp