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 masked protester talks to a soldier during clashes after the funeral of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan October 21, 2012. Lebanese soldiers fired guns and tear gas to push back hundreds of protesters who broke through a police cordon and tried to storm the government headquarters in Beirut. (Photo by Hussein Malla/Associated Press)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, right, watches as his wife Jill Biden, center, blocks a protester from arriving on stage during an primary night rally in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. The biggest day of the presidential primary calendar will define the nomination fight for Bernie Sanders and Biden and determine whether Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren have a rationale for carrying on their campaigns. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Police officers speak to a woman in Greenwich Park in London, England on April 4, 2020. The Government has announced a lockdown to slow the spread of Coronavirus and reduce pressure on the NHS. (Photo by Alamy Live News)

A police officer raises a baton at a man who, according to police, had broken the social distancing rule, outside a wine shop during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, May 4, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

Su-25 jet fighters release smoke in the colours of the Russian state flag over Red Square during a flypast rehearsal ahead of a parade on Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow, Russia on May 5, 2021. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A woman reacts as she receives the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine under the COVAX scheme against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya on March 5, 2021. (Photo by Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)

Women perform in the traditional “Morenada” dance during Carnival, in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)