We present high-resolution , broad- and narrow-band , pre-refurbishment images of the central region of M51 taken with the Planetary Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope .
The V -band images show a rather chaotic distribution of dust lanes , though some are oriented radially , roughly aligned with the major axis of the bar , and may be transporting gas to the AGN in the nucleus .
The dust lane obscuring the nucleus of the galaxy , which was previously thought to be an edge-on accretion disk feeding the AGN , is not centered on the nucleus .
It is unlikely that this is a stable configuration , suggesting that the material has only recently entered the nuclear region .
The nucleus is contained within a cluster of stars having a total luminosity of order 5 \times 10 ^ { 7 } \mbox { L$ { } _ { \odot } $ } .
Fitting a King model to the least obscured portions of the cluster yields a maximum core radius of 14 pc .
The morphology apparent in the forbidden-line images of the extra-nuclear cloud is consistent with a narrow jet striking and scattering off the boundary of a relatively dense cocoon of gas in the disk of the galaxy .
The emission-line regions are concentrated along the inner borders of dust filaments , supporting the view that the nuclear jet is ramming into and stirring up the ISM of the disk .