Spur Lacasse of Cochrane, Alberta rides the horse Rebel Warrior in the novice bareback event during the Calgary Stampede rodeo in Calgary, Alberta, in this July 12, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Todd Korol/Reuters)

A close up shows Ukraine's Hanna Ryzhykova leg breaking a hurdle before crashing out as she competes in the women's 400m hurdles heats during the European Athletics Championships at the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich on August 13, 2014. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque, during the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca September 30, 2014. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)

Pawel Karpinski and Nadine Kinczel of Poland dance as they compete during IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Lomianki near Warsaw, November 9, 2014. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

A house burns as the Butte fire rages through Mountain Ranch, California September 11, 2015. Evacuation orders were expanded to thousands of homes in northern California's Sierras on Friday as the rapidly spreading wildfire roared for a third day through drought-parched timber and brush, threatening mountain communities. (Photo by Noah Berger/Reuters)

Tarah Kayne and Daniel O'Shea of the U.S. perform during the Pairs short program at the Skate America figure skating competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin October 23, 2015. Fifty-six Olympic and world championship athletes are competing in the event, which is the first of six stops on the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Steam emerges from a cooling tower of the nuclear power plant Leibstadt near Leibstadt, Switzerland, November 18, 2014. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)