Last evening, around midnight, it was reasonably clear here for a change, so I tried again to view M51. I've been trying to view this one for some time now (weather permitting) with no success so far. Seems that it shouldn't be too difficult because of its magnitude and not too great area. But, still no success. I know that I'm looking right at it, but not seeing it, because I've located the area very specifically via nearby stars,,,the small trianglle of three ~7th mag stars. I know the relation of M51 to these, starting from eta UMa => 24CNv. So, I guess there's just too much light pollution and too small aperture. I have been able to view, dimly a number of other galaxies this spring with the same scope though. Also, I've been trying for M101 and am having the same problem. Easy to pretty accurately locate what I know is the right area, but I can't see anything. However, M101, although brighter, covers a much larger area than M51.
Bruce