Pictor A (PKS 0518-45): From nucleus to lobes

We present a variety of new imaging and kinematic data for the double-lobed radio galaxy Pictor A. The new optical data include Hubble Space Telescope (HST) continuum and [O III], emission-line images (at a resolution of 25-1 00 mas) and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy (at a resolution of simil ar to 1 ".5). The ground-based images show H alpha filaments and loops whic h extend to the north and west of the optical core. The radio continuum dat a include 3 cm Australia Telescope images of the core, at a resolution comp arable to that of the optical, ground-based images, and a VLBI image of a j et 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 alpha filaments all appear to be ali gned with the extended, low-luminosity radio continuum bridge which Perley et al, have traced out to the optical-synchrotron hot spot in the NW lobe o f this object. The H alpha filaments which appear to lie in the path of thi s trajectory are associated with a disrupted velocity field in the extended ionized gas. These filaments (as well as the extended CO mi emission found at mas scales in the HST images) may have been pushed to the north, out of the path of the jet. The ground-based spectra which cover this trajectory also yield line ratios for the ionized gas which have anomalously low CN nl (6564), suggesting either a complex, clumpy structure in the gas with a hi gher cloud-covering factor at larger radii and with denser clouds than is f ound in the nuclear regions of most NLRG and Seyfert 2 galaxies, or some ot her, unmodeled, mechanism for the emergent spectrum from this region. The H alpha emission-line filaments to the north appear to be associated with a 3 cm radio continuum knot which lies in a gap in the filaments similar to 4 " from the nucleus. Altogether, the data in this paper provide good circum stantial evidence for nondisruptive redirection of a radio jet by interstel lar gas clouds in the host galaxy.