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)

American rapper Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion promotes a new music video with a topless photo in the first decade of September 2022. (Photo by theestallion/Instagram)

Actress Julia Rose and American professional boxer Jake Paul leave little to imagination while frolicking in waterfall pool on Hawaii holiday in the last decade of November 2022. The couple are currently enjoying a mini-break in the US following Paul's win over Anderson Silva at the end of last month. (Photo by Instagram)

School girls hold hands while looking out at the Indian Ocean at Galle Face beach in Colombo on December 9, 2022. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Fans attend “The Batman” special screening at BFI IMAX Waterloo on February 23, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)

Australian rapper Amethyst Amelia Kelly, known professionally as Iggy Azalea is seen on the set of Extra TV on July 10, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

American actress and model Christina Hendricks attends NBC's New York Mid Season Press Junket at Four Seasons Hotel New York on January 24, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

A couple shelter under an umbrella during a heavy downpour of rain in Belfast, Ireland on Monday, July 31, 2023. (Photo by Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images)