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)

“Einar Erici (1885–1965) was a physician by profession, working at a tuberculosis hospital in Stockholm, even running a private medical practice. He was by then the most renowned Swedish expert of church organs and organ builders, and his archival collection is today held by the Swedish National Heritage Board. This archive includes mostly writings, such as letters and manuscripts for published articles and essays, but also more than 2 000 black and white photos – original prints, glass plates and film negatives”. – Swedish National Heritage Board

Photo: Priest, Valamo Monastery, Karelia, Russia (then Finland), 1930s. Father Venerius with a birchbark basket. (Photo by Einar Erici)

Gardener Peter Glazebrook poses for photographers with his world record breaking onion at The Harrogate Autumn Flower Show on September 16, 2011 in Harrogate, England. Peter Glazebrook from Newark, Nottinghamshire claimed a Guinness World Record with his giant onion weighing 8.150 kg. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

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)

American media personality and socialite Kylie Jenner (R) and her pal Yris Palmer brave the cold in a hot jacuzzi in the first decade of December 2022. (Photo by kyliejenner/Instagram)

British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa during the Milan Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2023/2024 on February 23, 2023 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by dualipa/Instagram)

An exile Tibetan artisan waits to perform a traditional dance after an early morning prayer session to usher in the Year of the Water Hare in Dharamshala, India, Tuesday, February 21, 2023. (Photo by Ashwini Bhatia/AP Photo)

Drone view of vehicles after part of the ceiling collapsed in a mall in Osasco, Brazil on March 9, 2023. (Photo by Carla Carniel/Reuters)