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 handout phptopgraph made avaiable by NASA showing Russian support personnel roll the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft after it landed with with with Expedition 47 crew members Tim Kopra of NASA, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, and Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan 18 June 2016. Kopra, Peake, and Malenchenko are returning after six months in space where they served as members of the Expedition 46 and 47 crews onboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/EPA/NASA)

A robot Ecce by the Robot studio is pictured at the world's largest industrial technology fair, the Hannover Messe, in Hanover April 13, 2015. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Soldiers, including two recruits who have brought some chickens, at Victoria prepare to board the train for the battle front. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Anthony Joshua punches Kubrat Pulev during the IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO World Heayweight Title fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev at The SSE Arena, Wembley on December 12, 2020 in London, England. A limited number of fans (1000) are welcomed back to sporting venues to watch elite sport across England. This was following easing of restrictions on spectators in tiers one and two areas only. (Photo by Andrew Couldridge – Pool/Getty Images)

The Milky Way rising above Durdle Door in Dorset, United Kingdom on Saturday night, March 18, 2023. The image consists of 19 two-minute exposures, ten of the foreground and nine of the sky which needed a motorised star tracker to ensure the Milky Way wasn't blurry. All the photos were merged together to reveal more detail than what the naked eye can see. (Photo by Nick Bull/Picture Exclusive)

A Manchester City fan attends the trophy ceremony after the end of the Soccer Club World Cup final match between Manchester City FC and Fluminense FC at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, December 22, 2023. Manchester City won 4-0. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)

A child looks at a reveller dressed as devil on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day in Prague, Czech Republic on December 5, 2022. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)