The ejecta from the luminous blue variable star P Cygni

Further optical observations have been made with the Manchester Occulting M ask Imager and Manchester Echelle Spectrometer of the inner and outer shell s of P Cygni, and of the 7-arcmin long giant lobe projecting from this lumi nous blue variable star. An image in the light of the fluorescently excited [Ni II] 7378-Angstrom li ne has revealed the knottiness of the inner shell. Well defined 'velocity e llipses' for the position/velocity arrays across the outer shell indicate t hat its expansion velocity is 160 km s(-1) which is somewhat lower than the previously reported value. The kinematical behaviour of the giant lobe, both in the vicinity of P Cygn i, and further away, emphasizes its strange nature, although close associat ion with P Cygni is again suggested by these new observations. One possibil ity is that this lobe is a 'trail' of collimated ejected material. The observations are compared with a 60-mum IRAS high-resolution map of the region. A variety of possible explanations of the observed phenomena are e xplored, e.g. radio knots in the outer stellar wind either coalesce or expa nd to become the [Ni II]7378-Angstrom emitting knots in the inner shell; th at a mass-loaded wind overunning slower moving clumps explains the kinemati cs of the inner shell; that the one-sided giant lobe could be a 'trail' of ejected material from P Cygni funnelled through the outer shell.