Tommy Liberto, known as Mr. Christmas Tree, crosses Seventh Avenue while visiting New York for the tenth year from Bel Air, Md., Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

“Mr Big Dipper”, Nicholas Roemmelt (Denmark). A stargazer observes the constellation of the Big Dipper perfectly aligned with the window of the entrance to a large glacier cave in Engadin, Switzerland. This is a panorama of two pictures, and each is a stack of another two pictures: one for the stars and another one for the foreground, but with no composing or time blending. (Photo by Nicholas Roemmelt/National Maritime Museum/The Guardian)

Stefan Libon proposes to girlfirend Jess McGarrity in front of a banner message “Marry Me Jess?” on the deck of the Queen Mary 2, at Mrs Macquarie's Chair on Valentines day, February 14, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by James Morgan/Carnival Australia via Getty Images)

French artist Christophe Guinet, also known as “Mr Plant”, works on his plant shoe creation “Wood”, part of the artistic project “Just Grow It”, in his art gallery in Marseille, November 25, 2014. Guinet transforms name-brand Nike sneakers, cult footwear for urban youth, into vegetable compositions, creating a collection of artwork with trainers modified with tree bark, foam and flowers. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

Former “The Hills” star Audrina Patridge and her on again, off again boyfriend Corey Bohan get into a huge fight after attending Matthew Morrison's Halloween Party at Hyde Nightclub in West Hollywood, California on October 25, 2014. Audrina and Corey, who recently split up this past summer, seemed to be in great spirits before the party started but afterwards it was a whole different story! The not so happy couple argued on a bench and at one point a visibly upset Audrina sat on the sidewalk crying! (Photo by FameFlynet)

Artist Ted Harrison makes final adjustments to his artwork created with poppies on the floor of St. Paul's Cathedral on November 10, 2011 in London, England. Mr. Harrison created the work on a 30 foot disc under the main dome of the cathedral with the intention of drawing attention to the 250,000 children worldwide currently under military orders. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/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)