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)

Supporters and opponents of Russian opposition activist and anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny clash during unsanctioned protest in Manezhnaya Square in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, December 30, 2014. The unsanctioned protest came hours after Alexei Navalny was found guilty of fraud and given a suspended sentence. Navalny, who has been under house arrest since February, is accused of breaking the terms of his house arrest to attend the rally and was detained by police as he approached the site of the protest. (Photo by Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo)

Students from Langata primary school run past riot police as they protest against a perimeter wall illegally erected by a private developer around their school playground in Kenya's capital Nairobi January 19, 2015. Riot police used teargas to disperse students at a school in Nairobi as the children protested against the potential loss of their playground. The playground was fenced off in December, during the school holidays, by a prominent developer who also claims ownership of the land. The title to the contested site is said to be in the name of Airport View Housing Limited, according to local media, with plans to use the space to build a parking lot for a hotel. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

These chilling images prove there is no sign of life at this abandoned tuberculosis treatment hospital. Johnny Joo, 24, captured the eerie shots of the desolate TB ward, in Perrysburg, New York. Where equipment lies gathering rust and walls are left crumbling. The photojournalist, from Cleveland, Ohio, stumbled upon the facility, which shut its doors in 1995, before shooting what remains of the historic site. Johnny said the facility, named after Buffalo Mayor James Nobel Adam, remains something of an unknown quantity as it is surrounded by more than 500 acres of forest land. (Photo by Johnny Joo/Caters News)

NASA says it could be another 20 years before humans touch down on Mars, but in a sense, the Mars Society has been exploring the red planet for more than a decade – in Utah. Photo: Csilla Orgel, a geologist of Crew 125 EuroMoonMars B mission, makes her way back to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert March 3, 2013. The MDRS aims to investigate the feasibility of a human exploration of Mars and uses the Utah desert's Mars-like terrain to simulate working conditions on the red planet. Scientists, students and enthusiasts work together developing field tactics and studying the terrain. All outdoor exploration is done wearing simulated spacesuits and carrying air supply packs and crews live together in a small communication base with limited amounts of electricity, food, oxygen and water. Everything needed to survive must be produced, fixed and replaced on site. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

In this June 29, 2015 photo, forlorn buildings are seen at Hashima Island, commonly known as Gunkanjima, which means “Battleship Island”, off Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, southern Japan. The island is one of 23 old industrial facilities seeking UNESCO's recognition as world heritage “Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution” meant to illustrate Japan's rapid transformation from a feudal farming society into an industrial power at the end of the 19th century. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is expected to approve the proposal during a meeting being held in Bonn, Germany, through July 9. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

“Wave Gotik Treffen 2010 am Eingang des AgraParks / in der Innenstadt von Leipzig”. (Photo by Danny Sotzny)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

“Vull sortir a la superficie, i ... respirar”. (Photo by Véronique Carreño Andreu)

P.S. Most pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).