US actress, model and transgender activist Leyna Bloom poses during a photocall for the film “Port Authority” at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/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)

Australia's Jessica Lim competes in the women's nangun final during the 13th World Wushu Championship 2015 at Istora Senayan stadium in Jakarta, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

The USA’s Beatriz Hatz competes at Women's Long Jump -T64 final at the Stade de France stadium, during the 2024 Paralympics, Saturday, August 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (Photo by Ümit Bektaş/Reuters)

A pitch invader tries to get through to Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal during the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A Group A1 match between Portugal and Scotland at Estadio do SL Benfica on September 8, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Pedro Nunes/Reuters)

This picture released by Turkish Cumhuriyet Daily newspaper shows Dilek Dundar (L), the wife of editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet daily Can Dundar, trying to stop a gunman who is also being held back by a man on May 6, 2016 in Istanbul. Turkish opposition journalist Can Dundar escaped a shooting on May 5 outside a courthouse in Istanbul where he is on trial, adding police detained the assailant. Dundar, who was unharmed, was outside the courthouse during a break as the court prepared to deliver its verdict in his trial for allegedly revealing state secrets in a newspaper story. (Photo by AFP Photo/Cumhuriyet Daily Newspaper)

UK Big Brother star Chloe Khan washes her Land Rover wearing a bikini and hot pants in Borehamwood, England on September 22, 2016. (Photo by Palace Lee)

Wildlife category, open shortlist. “Buffaloes and stars”. This picture, taken at Zimanga game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, used an in-camera multiple exposure, with the first lit for the buffaloes and the second focused on the stars. (Photo and caption by Andreas Hemb/2017 Sony World Photography Awards)