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)

Boeing B-29 (#10) from the 24th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group after an emergency landing at Iwo Jima on April 24,1945. (Photo by U.S. Air Force)

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)

Model Ashley Graham shows off her curves in the second decade of June 2022 while rocking a colorful corset just four months postpartum. (Photo by ashleygraham/Instagram)

Models wait backstage before the GUAXIN Autumn/Winter 2024 collection show by Chunlin Yang, during China Fashion Week in Beijing, China on March 29, 2024. (Photo by Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

Tautumeitas from Latvia performs the song “Bur Man Laimi” during the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Photo by Martin Meissner/AP Photo)

Standalone picture dated June 7th, 2022 shows Flt Lt Adam O’Hare rehearsing in the iconic Typhoon plane over Lincolnshire yesterday (Tues) as he trains for this summers airshows with vapour trails over the wing. The phenomenon is caused by low pressure areas created on the aircraft's skin and wings as it moves through moist air. As the pressure drops so does the temperature, and if the temperature reaches the saturation point, water vapor is created. (Photo by Claire Hartley/Bav Media)

The American skier Lindsey Vonn celebrates winning the women’s downhill race in the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup on December 12, 2025. She is joined on the podium by Moritz, the competition’s official mascot, named after the Swiss resort in which it is held. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)