  We present the discovery of an optical transient (OT) in Messier 51,
designated M51 OT2019-1 (also ZTF19aadyppr, AT 2019abn, ATLAS19bzl), by the
Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). The OT rose over 15 days to an observed
luminosity of $M_r=-13$ (${\nu}L_{\nu}=9\times10^6~L_{\odot}$), in the
luminosity gap between novae and typical supernovae (SNe). Spectra during the
outburst show a red continuum, Balmer emission with a velocity width of
$\approx400$ km s$^{-1}$, Ca II and [Ca II] emission, and absorption features
characteristic of an F-type supergiant. The spectra and multiband light curves
are similar to the so-called "SN impostors" and intermediate-luminosity red
transients (ILRTs). We directly identify the likely progenitor in archival
Spitzer Space Telescope imaging with a $4.5~\mu$m luminosity of
$M_{[4.5]}\approx-12.2$ and a $[3.6]-[4.5]$ color redder than 0.74 mag, similar
to those of the prototype ILRTs SN 2008S and NGC 300 OT2008-1. Intensive
monitoring of M51 with Spitzer further reveals evidence for variability of the
progenitor candidate at [4.5] in the years before the OT. The progenitor is not
detected in pre-outburst Hubble Space Telescope optical and near-IR images. The
optical colors during outburst combined with spectroscopic temperature
constraints imply a higher reddening of $E(B-V)\approx0.7$ mag and higher
intrinsic luminosity of $M_r\approx-14.9$
(${\nu}L_{\nu}=5.3\times10^7~L_{\odot}$) near peak than seen in previous ILRT
candidates. Moreover, the extinction estimate is higher on the rise than on the
plateau, suggestive of an extended phase of circumstellar dust destruction.
These results, enabled by the early discovery of M51 OT2019-1 and extensive
pre-outburst archival coverage, offer new clues about the debated origins of
ILRTs and may challenge the hypothesis that they arise from the
electron-capture induced collapse of extreme asymptotic giant branch stars.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics