  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 5x10^7 L_0. 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.
