Radio Jet and Collimating Molecular Torus in M51

M51 hosts a mini AGN which is blowing a pair of radio bubbles with a jet. The more compact southern jet is shown here in color. The 100 pc size molecular gas torus surrounding the nucleus is mapped in CO (2-1) transition at 1" resolution (white contours) using the Owens Valley millimeter array. The high density of the molecular gas is sufficient to confine and direct the jet as seen here.