  We have mapped the inner 360'' regions of M51 in the 158micron [CII] line at
55'' spatial resolution using the Far-infrared Imaging Fabry-Perot
Interferometer (FIFI) on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). The emission is
peaked at the nucleus, but is detectable over the entire region mapped, which
covers much of the optical disk of the galaxy. There are also two strong
secondary peaks at ~43% to 70% of the nuclear value located roughly 120'' to
the north-east, and south-west of the nucleus. These secondary peaks are at the
same distance from the nucleus as the corotation radius of the density wave
pattern. The density wave also terminates at this location, and the outlying
spiral structure is attributed to material clumping due to the interaction
between M51 and NGC5195. This orbit crowding results in cloud-cloud collisions,
stimulating star formation, that we see as enhanced [CII] line emission. The
[CII] emission at the peaks originates mainly from photodissociation regions
(PDRs) formed on the surfaces of molecular clouds that are exposed to OB
starlight, so that these [CII] peaks trace star formation peaks in M51. The
total mass of [CII] emitting photodissociated gas is ~2.6x10^{8} M_{sun}, or
about 2% of the molecular gas as estimated from its CO(1-0) line emission. At
the peak [CII] positions, the PDR gas mass to total gas mass fraction is
somewhat higher, 3-17%, and at the secondary peaks the mass fraction of the
[CII] emitting photodissociated gas can be as high as 72% of the molecular
mass.... (continued)
