Japanese team trains before the 6th FINA Synchronised Swimming World Trophy at the Water Cube on December 8, 2011 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Grand Champion Oakhurst Crusin' in Chrome, an Australian Shepard, poses backstage at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show after winning best of opposite s*x on February 13, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

Visitors of the world's longest tree top walk between the trees of the Bavarian forest on November 6, 2009 in Neuschoenau, Germany. The path, 1300 meters long and in 8 to 25m height, winds up to an impressive tower with a height of 44 meters. The wooden construction is integrated into the forest and delivers a natural experience. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

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)

Players of the USA celebrate in the dressing room following their team's victory in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United States of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 07, 2019 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

A bystander walks past a fresco by street artist Seth depicting a girl with a Ukrainian flag walking on tanks in Paris on March 01, 2022. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

A general view of Stonehenge during the annual Perseid meteor shower in the night sky in Salisbury Plain, southern England August 13, 2013. The Perseid meteor shower is sparked every August when the Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by comet Swift-Tuttle. Picture taken using a long exposure. (Photo by Kieran Doherty/Reuters)